Minecraft: Hide and Seek Mode (DISCONTINUED)
by Ariza Luca
Summary: When Ivor goes back to the portal hallway, and the Order of the Stone follow him, they find themselves in an arena with six others, who they will have to pair up with and survive six rounds of Hide and Seek, getting eliminated each round. The final pair will stand up against the mastermind behind this whole plot. If they lose... they may lose more than the game. (DISCONTINUED)
1. Another Portal

" _Please_ don't do that again," Jesse implored to Ivor as she took the Atlas and the flint and steel from his somewhat reluctant grip on it, "I don't want to be responsible for explaining to Gabriel and the others why you've been reduced to a smear on the floor."

"Petra wouldn't go THAT hard on me- she'd do much worse," Ivor responded drily, but shooting the redhead a nervous look.

Petra didn't bother defending herself at the slight jibe; she was so angry at Ivor already that her face was almost as red as her hair and you could practically see the smoke shooting out of her ears.

"Well at least wait until we get back home to murder Ivor, I'm... honestly a little sick of this hallway." Lukas made a small face as he ran a hand through his messy blonde hair, making it stand up on end a bit.

Olivia chuckled at the banter between the four of them, as Axel seemed to be looking at one of the portals. "Well, let's get going then."

"Yes, I suppose I should probably stay at home for a couple days _before_ going on another adventure... I suppose I got a bit overexcited," Ivor said, rubbing his head tiredly. No one seemed to acknowledge his apology, although Petra's face did go a few shades lighter.

"Does this portal feel... weird to you guys?" Axel asked, still staring at the portal. Jesse took a look around at the portal Axel was talking about- it looked like a regular portal to her, with lapis lazuli surrounding the beautifully dark blue portal. She went to go stand next to Axel, and immediately she could tell what he meant- a warm, fuzzy, tingling feeling spread over Jesse from the ends of her hair to her toes, and she repressed a slight shiver. "Oh. Wow. Yeah."

"What are you talking _abouuuuu_ holy crap this is weird," Lukas said, a bewildered look coming into his clear blue eyes as he moved to stand next to them, blinking as the feeling came over him as well.

All six of them shared a funny look, before Jesse turned reluctantly back to the portal. "Well... maybe this is important, or something. There has to be a _reason_ it's making us feel all... fuzzy."

Petra squinted her gold eyes at the portal. She was quiet for a full fifteen seconds before saying, in a rather calm voice, "Okay, then- we'll head in here, check what's going on, and then go home. Deal?"

Everyone chorused in agreement, even Ivor, who rubbed his head again sheepishly.

Jesse turned to the dark blue portal, took a deep breath, and walked in.

Like all the other portals in the hallway, it felt like walking through one of those bead curtains. Unlike all the other ones, though, Jesse felt the warm tingling intensify until she felt like she was being relentlessly tickled and going numb at the same time, a warmth washing over her.

And a hint of icy coolness.

Before Jesse could wonder what that was about, her foot caught on something, she tripped, and stumbling forward she proceeded to land flat on her face on a wooden floor. At least it wasn't stone, right? That... definitely would've hurt a lot more...

"Ow," she finally said, her voice practically dripping with sarcasm.

A hand placed itself on Jesse's shoulder and hauled her to her feet, Jesse finding Ivor helping the slightly shorter girl to her feet. "Thanks, Ivor," she said, wincing and rubbing her side again. "That was a more... violent landing than I was expecting."

"Same could be said for me," Ivor said wryly, as the others came through, all of them tripping, stumbling, or at least getting thrown off-balance so that they nearly faceplanted. Lukas in particular was knocked clean off his feet onto the floor when Axel came through, tripped, and sprawled onto the blonde boy.

"Arghhh, Axel," Lukas grunted from where he was now under the much more burly boy. "I seriously don't want to go through this again..."

"Sorry, man."

Jesse snorted in amusement before looking around.

The room they were in was a dark one, illuminated only by torches and the glow of potions that sat on shelves, as well as a small gold brewing stand in one corner. Books lined the room, cramming onto the shelves and practically squeezing some of the books off.

"Why is it," Petra wondered, examining some of the potions, "that _every_ potion or enchanting room that we've been to has tons of books, has creepy atmospheric lighting, and thousands of potions everywhere?"

Jesse casually perused the bookshelves, her back facing the redhead and shaking slightly as the blackette stifled a furious fit of giggles. She didn't dare turn around and look at the others- judging by their snickers, they would only make her explode. Ivor's offended snort didn't do anything to help matters, either.

"I think I heard something... be right back, guys."

A bit distracted now, Jesse looked up, just as a wooden door on the other side of the room opened, spilling torchlight into the room and revealing the person behind the door- a girl with chin-length black hair that was streaked with red wearing a black-and-white flannel over a plain black t-shirt. She wore a pair of faded jeans over a pair of dirty combat boots, her eyes were the color of emeralds ( _like mine_ , Jesse thought), and she had a brown leather bag slung over one shoulder.

She blinked at the six of them for a moment, her facial expression difficult to see in the dim light but her reflective emerald eyes showing up even in the dark. Jesse had to wonder how weird this looked. She decided she probably didn't want to know.

The girl finally and slowly raised her left hand, giving it a little wave.

"Um... hi."

 **A/N: Welcome to the first chapter of Minecraft: Hide and Seek Mode! If you're here from Hybrid, great! Welcome back! If you're here from someplace else... well, you can check out Hybrid, of course, but welcome as well! Please feel free to review what you think about the story so far!**

 **To those of you who read Hybrid, though; I am going to reply to comments on the oneshot book I'm posting after this story. Sorry, I just felt like I should probably notify you to that. You can ignore it if you have no idea what Hybrid is.**

 **Is everyone ready to meet the Authors next chapter?**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	2. Introductions

"Who are you?" Petra asked warily, hand straying to her sword. The girl's green eyes flickered to Petra's hand, and she put her hands up in surrender. "Whoa there cowgirl, let's... maybe calm down a bit? Here, let's- yeah, let's introduce ourselves? I'm Ariza. Ariza Luca. You can call me Riz though, but I'd prefer just Ariza. And I'm rambling. Let me shut up." Which she did.

Even through Jesse's wary stance, she couldn't help but let a smile flicker over her face. Ariza looked pleased at that, before moving her hands and putting them on her hips, shoving her bag aside slightly. "Well? What about you guys?"

"I'm Jesse," Jesse introduced herself, before gesturing at her friends. "And this here is Petra-" Petra moved her hand in a slow, still-wary wave. "-Ivor-" Ivor jerked his head in a little nod. "- Olivia-" The dark-skinned girl nodded slightly at Ariza. "- Lukas-" Lukas gave her a faint salute, a faint smile coming onto his face. "And Axel." The burly boy crossed his arms and looked at Ariza, who had to be at least a head shorter than him. "Nice to meet you," Jesse finished.

Ariza's hand plunged into her bag, and she raised a torch out of it, clicking a flint and steel over the tip and igniting it. "Sorry, it's dim as Hades in here," she apologized, wavering firelight illuminating the room. Now Jesse and the others could properly see Ariza's face; it was very nice and her reflective green eyes were crinkled up slightly in a small smile.

"Nice to meet you," Jesse repeated, a faint smile coming over her face as she gave the black-and-red haired girl a smile.

"Ditto. Now c'mon, you should _probably_ come meet the others before they overreact and all come charging in here like bulls," and Ariza gave a smile to show that she was only joking.

"There are more people here?" Jesse asked, feeling a sickening sense of deja vu. With that sense of deja vu came the glint of a diamond axe and a pair of gold eyes behind a white pumpkin, a wicked laugh ringing in her ears.

"Yep! About... um, five others, so far. Now we have twelve people. C'mon, they're all in the library... I think. I might be wrong," and with a little laugh Ariza led them out of the potion room, keeping the torch up. Jesse could see why; even with the torches in the hallway it was still quite dim and a bit spooky; with the wavering firelight pulsing against the stone walls.

"So what are you doing here, then?" Jesse asked, hands in her pockets. They bumped the flint and steel and the Atlas, which she automatically closed her hands on as she tightened her grip in worry.

"Well, it's a little bit of a funny story- turn right here," and Ariza swung a sharp right down another hallway, which the others followed her down. "The six of us that are here got this invitation... it didn't say much, though. Just to come. At least I know everyone that came... well, I did, until I met you guys. Did you guys get an invitation, too?"

Jesse grimaced a bit. "Sort of."

"Ah." Ariza didn't press her for details. "And... left _here..._ I think... ah, yep, here we go. Sorry, these hallways are like a freaking maze," and she pushed open some double doors. Jesse squinted in the sudden light that illuminated the place.

A black blur pelted at the black-and-red haired girl, who was shaking out the torch, and tackled her backwards, making Ariza let out a squeak as she stumbled backwards, dropping the thankfully-no-longer-burning torch. "Ariza-saaaaannnnnnn!"

Jesse was fairly certain that all six members of the Order of the Stone simultaneously blinked here. Now hugging Ariza so tightly Ariza looked as though she couldn't breathe was a girl with tan skin, black hair, and brown eyes. She was wearing a black t-shirt with the saying "Don't Stop Won't Stop" emblazoned across it, and some jeans. She also had a pair of rather prominent cat ears on her head, but Jesse put that down to them being a headband.

Then they twitched happily and Jesse jumped a bit.

"Oh my gosh you're baaacccckkkk who are these guys where'd you find them what were they doing-"

"Rebekah," Ariza squeaked, "can't... breathe..."

The black-haired girl released Ariza immediately, who wasted no time in gulping in huge amounts of air and gasping loudly. "One question at a time, please," Ariza added, still inhaling deeply as she tried to catch her breath.

Rebekah gave Ariza a sheepish grin, which Ariza returned, before peeking over the slightly-taller-girl's shoulder at the six people standing behind her. "Hi! I'm Rebekahtpe! But call me Rebekah!" she said, cheerfully, before reaching out and seeming to pull a different girl from out of nowhere into the vicinity; a girl wearing a green sweater that was green at the top and faded to white at the bottom with a weird smiley face on it. She had thick dark brown hair that reached a little ways past her shoulders and almond-shaped brown eyes. Her skin tone definitely had an Asian tone to it, and she wore gray yoga pants and sneakers, as well as a colorful array of hair ties upon her wrist. "And this is Veggie Girl!"

"Rebekah, I said I don't _like_ being called that," the other girl grumbled slightly, as Ariza chuckled a bit, before looking at Jesse and the others. "I'm BonkChoy, but you can call me Choy. Or Cho. I don't really care much..." And she smiled at them.

"Hey, what's going on over here?" Another girl popped over, with short brown hair over a freckled face. She had brown eyes which were slightly hidden by her black-rimmed glasses, and was wearing a black hoodie with a creeper face on it; rainbow-and-white-striped sleeves the only part of the hoodie which was not black or green. She was wearing some brown boots under a pair of blue jeans.

"Hey, Toni," Ariza said, before gesturing at the six of them behind her. "This is Jesse, Ivor, Petra, Lukas, Axel, and Olivia." She rattled all of this off in under thirty seconds and pointed at each one depending on their name.

Toni turned to them and smiled at them. "Well, hey. I'm Antonia, but you can just call me Toni."

The doorway was getting very crowded by now, and it got even more crowded as two other girls trotted over. One had mid-length wavy dark-brown hair with a green-dyed streak in her hair and dark brown eyes, with slightly bushy eyebrows, and tan skin. She was wearing dark, skinny boyfriend jeans with a black belt and gray converse, as well as a somewhat-short-sleeved shirt with the collar and sleeves being dark green with some brown suspenders over it. The other one had hazel eyes which were hidden slightly behind a pair of purple glasses, and blonde-brown hair that was in a braid. She was wearing a pink t-shirt, faded jeans, and sneakers as well, and she was the one who spoke first. "Okay, what the f**k is going on?" she asked, bluntly.

Ariza chuckled, rubbing her head a bit. "Ah, yeah, introductions. This is Becky."

"Not Becca?" Ivor checked.

"No, it's Becky," the blonde-brown haired girl shot back, scowling at Ivor slightly.

"This is Becky, who curses a good deal," Ariza finished, "don't worry about it, or take offense. She just swears a lot."

"Damn straight," Becky agreed bluntly.

"And _this_ ," Ariza leaned over and poked the wavy-haired girl next to her, "is Samantha GirlOfMyOwnWorld, but you can call her Sammy or Gommie."

"I prefer Gommie, though," Gommie interjected, a bit too loudly.

"And... yeah, I think that's everyone," Ariza said, looking around at the others, before smiling at the wide-eyed Order of the Stone, who were gaping at the girls. "Welp, so that's all of us! Any questions?"

 **A/N: Haha xD And the Authors have been introduced! Featured in this story are GirlOfMyOwnWorld (Gommie), Toni42 (Toni), NoItsBecky (Becky), ChoyofBonk (Cho) and rebekahtpe (Rebekah), and then there's me, obviously xD This was mostly introductions and stuffs, next chapter some stuff is gonna go dooowwwwwn.**

 **Luna96: Hm! It's not bad. I feel like you should only use _some_ aspects of the plotline and come up with a lot of it on your own; because this way no one can accuse you of ripping it off or something, and I would like to see what you come up with by yourself :)**

 **NoItsBecky: Lol xD**

 **NinjaCat: Hey, cool! Me too! (I'm literally making most of this up as I go along... I have no idea what's going to happen except for general certain events xD )**

 **angelwings: Aw, I'm sorry you were sad :( but on the bright side, welcome back!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	3. Let the Game Begin

"So all of you got invited by... someone?" Jesse asked. They were now doing various things around the library, Ariza curled up in one of the armchairs like a cat and relaxing. Rebekah was curled up in the armchair next to Ariza, snoozing peacefully, her cat ears twitching slightly. Toni was reading one of the books on the shelves, Gommie and Cho were having a conversation, although Gommie was also partially reading a book, and Becky was just standing and watching them all with her arms crossed. Ivor was examining some of the books as well, Axel and Olivia having a discussion about... chickens? Jesse didn't want to know- Petra was sitting in front of the fire with Lukas, who was watching the conversation.

"Yeah. It came in the mail. I just brought my bag and came here, and, well, we were told to wait in the library. Then you guys showed up," Jesse said mildly, automatically reaching out and starting to pat Rebekah, who started purring like a carburetor. "So, yeah, here we are."

"And you don't know who invited you?" Ivor asked, still perusing the bookshelves.

"No," Toni spoke this time, shaking her head a little. "We have no clue what-so-freaking-ever."

"And you didn't find it suspicious?" Petra wondered.

Becky scoffed and rolled her eyes a bit. "Well of _course_ we found it suspicious, but then I heard these guys were coming, so I thought I might as well."

Suddenly there was a loud groan, and they looked over to see Cho facepalming. "Gommie, really!?" she groaned, as the dark-brown haired girl sniggered. "Well, this _is_ a book about anti-gravity. It's impossible to put it down!"

A groan rose from several of the people in the room, although Ariza was smirking and chuckling a little bit. "Okay, okay, guys," and she snapped her fingers, making them all look to her, "pay attention, my friends. So, we were all invited here... now I wonder when the person who invited us'll show up-"

The lights went out with a dull, electrical groan. Even the fire. Everything was pitch black. You couldn't have even see someone wave their hand furiously in front of their face an inch from their nose. Jesse let a gasp escape her mouth as her hands went flying up to her face in shock, that horrified sense of deja vu flickering through her again.

And then there ensued quite a lot of shouting.

"What the f**k is going on-"

" _Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap-_ "

Something in a foreign language that Jesse could not make heads or tails of.

"Hey, what just happened-"

"Ehhhh?!"

"Oh Notch, oh Notch, deja vu, _major deja vu-_ "

"This is like that creepy White Pumpkin place that you guys told us about-"

"- _crapcrapcrapcrapcrap-_ "

"Rebekah, calm down! And stop-" A little squeak, "please stop _squeezing_ me so hard!"

"Someone's touching my foot! Who's touching my foot-"

"I can't see anything! Guys?!"

"Oh _no,_ not _again-_ "

" _Get the lights!_ " Jesse bellowed over all of the shouting and yelling and sounds.

"Hello? Hello, hello?" The small screen on one of the walls, which everyone had overlooked, suddenly flickered on, shining in the pitch-black of the room. On the screen was a person wearing a red cloak with a hood that covered their head, except for their face, and that was covered by a mask that was a silvery-looking thing, glittering patterns traced at the edges of the mask, which had a nose and nothing else, except for eyeholes. Those revealed a pair of cat-green eyes that gazed at them all. At least, Jesse was pretty sure- the screen had static running over it.

"Welcome," the person said, sounding distinctly female.

"Who the f**k are you?" Becky asked rudely, crossing her arms and glaring at the screen.

The woman tsked. "Hm, that's for me to know, and you to find out. I have invited all of you here- even our six new guests," and she inclined her head at the Order of the Stone, "to partake in a lovely game of Hide and Seek." Her voice was light, it was a little airy, and yet every single one of Jesse's nerves were screaming at her to not trust this woman.

Ariza's reflective green eyes practically glowed in her pale face. She was quiet for a moment. "Continue."

"All twelve of you shall be paired up with one other person and entered into each of the six rounds of this little game of Hide and Seek. Each round will have a different theme, and three... mmm, sub-rounds, shall we call them. The aim of the game, is for the Seekers to find the Hiders. One pair will be eliminated each round, until there is only one pair left. And don't worry, don't worry... when I say 'eliminate', it only means they are now spectators of our lovely games. At the end of the first five rounds, the last remaining pair will get to play in a round with me. If they lose that game, though..." A dark, poisonously sweet chuckle. "... well, they're going to lose more than just the game."

Jesse felt as though her heart were in her mouth.

"What'd she say?" Gommie asked Ariza, softly.

"Are you deaf?" Ivor snapped, his already pale face practically snow-white and his dark blue eyes reflecting the light of the room as he turned to look at Gommie.

"Yes," Gommie responded simply.

There was a short, awkward silence, in which Ivor looked rather embarrassed.

Ariza finally turned to Gommie, facing her head-on, and summarized the whole thing up by, "We're going to play a game of Hide and Seek that lasts for six rounds; the sixth round we're going to play with her," and she pointed at the screen, "and if we lose that round we die."

Gommie's eyes widened, and she turned to stare at the woman incredulously. "Well, what if we decide we don't want to play?!" she asked, voice rising. It wasn't quite what one would call a shout, but it was at a rather close level.

The woman shrugged and moved her thumb and pressed two buttons. Immediately the sound of quite a lot of machinery disengaging sounded. "Then I'll just kill you right now," she said casually, and subtitles popped onto the screen. Olivia raised her eyes; and Jesse could tell she was impressed against her will.

"Well, when you put it like that," Gommie said sardonically, but an observant person would've noticed the way she'd started shivering.

The woman chuckled and pressed a different button, the machinery sounding again as it presumably went away, "Lovely. Well then, your pairs will be announced right now, then. Rules will be announced tomorrow in the first round. If you have a female partner, by the way, and you're a girl, you're expected to room together with them. If you're a male, there's a little dormitory for you, as there is for the females who have male partners. Don't worry, I'm not a horny person," and another chuckle.

Jesse would've laughed if this was a different situation, but this was so frightening that all she could do was stare at the screen, heart in her mouth.

"All right then, your rooms will be listed on the door outside of the library. Partners will be announced now, like I just said. Petra is paired with Becky."

Becky and Petra shared uneasy looks at each other.

"Rebekah is paired with Ivor."

Ivor jerked his head at Rebekah, who was unnaturally pale but gave the dark-haired male a friendly wave.

"Gommie is paired with Lukas."

Gommie looked at Lukas, who gave her a weak nod, looking rather nervous and quite fidgety.

"Axel is paired with Toni."

Toni nodded nervously at Axel, who was biting his nails anxiously at the moment and too nervous to give her a friendly motion.

"Cho and Olivia are paired together."

Cho gave Olivia a small wave, Olivia returning it as she shuffled her feet nervously.

"And that leaves Ariza with Jesse."

Ariza gave Jesse a nervous nod.

"All right, I think I said this a minute ago, but your rooms are on the door outside of the library. Good night; and be prepared to wake up tomorrow for the first round of our little game. Have fun~" And then the screen switched off, the lights coming on with an electrical whir a few moments later.

There was utter silence as everyone in the library looked at each other nervously.

Because this was one game they were not allowed to lose.

 **A/N: Whew! This chapter took me forever to write xD I didn't know what to put in it.**

 **SquiddytheBlaze: Nope... xD**

 **angelwings: Hehe xD Well, I'm glad you liked it!**

 **Luna96: Lol xD I'm glad that's what you had in mind.**

 **ChoyofBonk: Lol xD Oh my god I'm glad you like it; let me know if I ever write something and you want me to change it. (I mean personality wise for you) And haha, yeah xD**

 **RapidSammi: Hehe xD**

 **Okay! I think that's it... curse you, reviews section. Just... curse you.**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	4. The Breakfast Club

Jesse was wrapped up in the blankets so tightly she was pretty sure that if you could cut circulation off to the entire body, she'd just done it. She'd dozed fitfully throughout the night, and now light was streaming in through the window of the room.

It was a pretty nice room, as far as rooms go. The wallpaper was a pale green, and the beds were pretty comfy, enough so that they could sleep in comfort. There were some bookshelves and a desk, too, and the lamps above their heads were glowstone. It wasn't as if this room was a prison or something. But Jesse couldn't appreciate the room- not with how completely wound up she was.

"Didn't sleep much either, huh?"

Jesse reacted automatically- she flailed out, knocking the blankets out over the bed sloppily, and swung her fist wildly, which Ariza caught in her palm inches from her face. The two blackettes, one with a gold pin in her hair and the other red streaks, stood there in their plain white t-shirts and shorts (the pajamas the 'Host' had provided them with), interlocked by their hands, Jesse's shaking faintly.

And then Ariza released it and shook it out mildly. " _Ow..._ " she moaned.

And Jesse couldn't help it- she giggled.

Ariza looked faintly pleased at this, before saying, a bit more seriously, "But seriously, you look like the Walking Dead. Do you need to sleep more or something?"

Jesse slouched a bit, slumping into herself. "Well... I... no," she said, in a small voice. She just didn't feel comfortable baring her soul to someone she'd literally met last night. Even last night, the two of them hadn't talked- they'd changed and then immediately crawled into their respective beds, Ariza telling the blackette good night and Jesse responding with a faint "Mm".

Ariza looked at Jesse for a couple minutes, waiting for Jesse to say something, before saying, softly, "Well, if you ever feel like talking about it, let me know, all right?"

Which just made Jesse feel worse.

The two of them changed into some different clothes; Jesse deciding to go with her old red-sleeved t-shirt and dungarees (because for some reason, her armor had mysteriously disappeared overnight) and Ariza just putting on what she'd been wearing the day before, and the two of them trotted off to go find the kitchen.

"Whoever our host is, she needs to give us a map of this place," Ariza grumbled twenty minutes later, "I literally cannot find anything without making fifteen wrong turns."

After another five minutes, they _finally_ found the kitchen and edged open the door, to see Lukas sitting at the table with Gommie, the two of them sitting a good ways apart from one another and eating quietly- Lukas was eating some Mooshroom soup, and Gommie was eating a couple of baked potatoes.

Lukas waved to Jesse when he saw her. Like the black-haired girl, he wasn't wearing his armor anymore, but instead his old Ocelot jacket and jeans, as well as his purple-striped t-shirt. "Hey, Jesse. Did you sleep well?"

"Not really," Jesse said softly as she sat down. Ariza put her hands on her hips and looked at Jesse. "Well, do you want something in particular for breakfast?"

Jesse shook her head. "I don't think I'm hungry."

"Too bad; you're getting toast and a baked potato. Be right back," and Jesse darted through the kitchen doors to go grab said foods.

"How's sharing a room with Axel and Ivor?" Jesse asked her blonde friend drily.

Lukas thought about that for a minute. "Well, surprisingly quiet last night, actually. I guess Axel was too worried about it to actually bug anybody about it. And... well you know Ivor, he's a pretty quiet guy."

"I've noticed," Jesse said drily, as the doors opened again. Speak of the devil, Ivor and Rebekah were standing there, the two of them a conspicuous distance away from the other. Jesse was glad to see that unlike the others, Ivor retained those old brown robes; she wouldn't have known what to do if he'd been wearing that _outfit_ he'd been wearing back in the Builder Games.

"Oh, morning!" Rebekah said cheerfully, before glancing around the large room. "Where's the food?"

"In the kitchen," Jesse said, pointing at the door behind her, "Ariza's in there-"

"Gotcha!" And Rebekah was banging through the double doors, which swung crazily and let out the sounds of "Rizzyyyyyy!" and a squeak before the doors slammed shut again.

"She's enthusiastic," Jesse said.

Ivor smirked and sat down across from her, leaning his head into one of his hands. "I'm not sure if you meant that as a good thing or a bad one."

"I'm not sure it's either."

"Fair point."

The doors opened again, this time revealing a messy-haired Becky and Petra, who was also wearing her old outfit. Actually, she seemed more at home in her old outfit than the others. "Hey guys," she said, trotting over and plopping into a chair next to them, Becky sitting down next to her and then putting her head on the table, making a noncommittal grunting sound. She didn't look like she'd slept very well either.

Ariza came out of the kitchen, looking a bit as though her ribs had just gotten bruised from a high speed tackle, courtesy of Rebekah, and put down a plateful of bread and some baked potatoes on a different plate. Spotting Becky, she wordlessly trotted back into the kitchen.

"Nice partner you've got there," Petra said, snagging some bread and biting into it without breaking off a piece.

The doors opened again, and this time Axel, Olivia, Toni, and Cho walked in, all of them talking within their different friend groups and sitting with the people in said different friend groups, although Olivia and Cho did chat for a couple of minutes.

Ariza came back out, put down a slab of chocolate in front of Becky's head, and then slumped into a chair next to Jesse with a groan. "Someone else needs to cook dinner," she grumbled, grabbing a piece of bread and breaking off a piece.

"I'll handle that," Jesse said quickly. Ariza gave the blackette a lopsided smile before eating her bread, Becky rather cheerfully eating her chocolate.

"I'm gonna go get an apple," and Toni wandered off into the kitchen. Cho took a potato, tasted it, and then went right on eating it. It was very quiet in the room, faintly awkward, but not necessarily unpleasant.

Actually, if it hadn't been this this context, Jesse would've actually liked it quite a lot.

 **A/N: Anyone getting hyped up for the games? (wiggles eyebrows) Those start... next chapter, I should think. But those might just be rules. I dunno.**

 **rebekahtpe: Indoors; and reading on electronics. xD Aww that sucks**

 **RapidSammi: Oh dear... Well, thank you! Glad you liked it! (glomps you back)**

 **NoItsBecky: Lol! xD I laughed so hard when I saw that review**

 **GirlOfMyOwnWorld: Eeee :3 Glad you like it**

 **ChoyofBonk: Heck if I know; I'm relatively fluent in Mandarin; don't know anything in Cantonese. xD And that'd be hilarious, yes xD And the review section is back in business.**

 **DemonCatLady: Lol xD I guess we will**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	5. Rules and Starts

Jesse adjusted her dungarees sheepishly. They were now standing in a small arena with stained-glass plates, twelve of them. Jesse's was a pure white, and she glanced at Ariza's, who also had white. Ivor and Rebekah had dark blue, Petra and Becky had cyan ("I wish it was pink," Becky muttered quietly), Olivia and Cho got red, Axel and Toni got emerald-green, and Gommie and Lukas got a pale purple.

"Hello, hello!" The much-bigger screen on one of the walls flickered to life, revealing the masked girl. She still wore her cloak, but her voice was still that light and airy tone, and the mask was still over her face, except for those eerie, cat-green eyes. "Welcome to our first round of Hide and Seek! In five minutes, the teleportation plates you're standing on will take you to our first location. Which is a surprise~

"Big surprise there," Jesse grumbled under her breath, giving the masked woman a cold look.

If the masked woman had heard that at all, she gave no indication whatsoever. "Anyways, I guess I should tell you the rules first and how the games'll work.

"Right now, at the beginning of the games, there are six teams. Half of the teams will be split into 'Seekers', the others into 'Hiders'. Hiders must, of course, go and hide in the thirty second grace period. The Seekers will then be released and be allowed to go look for the Hiders. However, the Seekers must find the Hiders within the five minute time limit. If all the Hiders are found, the Seekers win. However, if even ONE Hider remains hidden and not caught by the Seekers, who must 'tag' the Hiders in order to catch them, all the Hiders win.

"Once the Seekers or the Hiders win, a forced teleportation will be used to summon everyone back to the starting point, and the roles will then be switched.

"Each team will get a point if they win that sub-round; if they lose they don't get any points at all. By the end of all three sub-rounds, whoever has the least amount of points will be eliminated from further participation in the games. Really, it's quite simple!" A girlish giggle. Jesse actually found her chirpy, airy nature a bit creepy. "Any questions?"

There was a brief silence of about five seconds as everyone pondered if they had any questions, racking their brains, before suddenly: "Bzzt! Time's up! Now, rules!"

"Wait, wh-"

"Rule number one!" she announced loudly, over Ivor's protest, "no invisibility potions or armor enchanted to be invisible once someone wears it! That, my friends, is considered cheating. I have taken the opportunity last night to take anything that might have invisibility enchantments, including several potions and your armor, and lock it in the storeroom."

Well that explained why their armor was gone.

"Ariza, the reason your bag is not gone is because the only things you have in there do not pertain to invisibility whatsoever. Rule number two," she continued, loudly, "No taking off the tracking tags I've placed on your wrists! You know, the electronic bangles."

Jesse looked at hers; it looked pretty innocuous. Just a silver bangle with a black electronic screen on it.

"If you do, they deliver quite a painful shock, I've been told. Either that or they inject poison into your arm and kill you. I forgot which!" This was said in an oddly cheerful way. "At the end of each round, your tracker will be taken off, because they don't work unless they're in one of the arenas.

"Rule number three- don't poke anyone in the eye."

Jesse smirked as she remembered Magnus, the Death Bowl, and the one actual rule that had been up.

"And that's all, folks!" The masked villain said, still incredibly airily and cheerfully. "I'll explain further anything that needs to be explained tomorrow. Now, the teleportation plates are about to activate-"

Jesse suddenly realized that the stained glass below her feet had started glowing brightly.

"So, one last reminder for all of you- do your best to win, and good luck~!" The screen went dark as the glow grew so intense that Jesse actually had to screw up her eyes to keep them from watering.

And then everything disappeared in a shower of sparks. Jesse felt a strange tingly feeling creeping up her body, like bubbles were popping rapidly over every portion of her body as she disappeared from the arena, the only thing she knew being the strange darkness beyond the light and the brightness of the light and the sparks flying everywhere and the fact that she felt like a wisp-

Her feet touched down on something hard, like a hardwood, and she found herself staring at a book spine that looked like it was bigger than the treehouse. "Whoa, what?!" she exclaimed, blinking, before looking around.

In doing so, the whole group realized that their surroundings were gargantuan. The house they'd just been in this morning; the one they were staying in until these games were over? It seemed to have been magnified a thousand times, until they were the size of ants scurrying along the floor. Well, maybe a little better- since the book spines were about six inches tall, and Jesse was about half that size, she and the others were about three inches tall. The book that was on the floor was in fact surrounded by a small floor of stained glass, which all of the players were standing on.

Jesse's bangle buzzed importantly, vibrating on her wrist. She raised her wrist, imitating everyone else, and tilted it towards herself so she could see the words blazened across the screen, flashing as the bangle vibrated.

 _HIDERS: Choose your hiding spots when the timer starts in 3._

 _2._

 _1._

 **A/N: Let the games begin.**

 **Let the games begin, indeed.**

 **RapidSammi: Ah, yeah, sorry (sheepish sweatdrop)**

 **ChoyofBonk: I don't even know how to say anything in Cantonese, so you've got me beat there xD And lol!**

 **NoItsBecky: (laughs)**

 **angelwings: Lol! xD Well I hope your siblings survived the excitement**

 **rebekahtpe: I love the dark, and yet I'm scared of it. Love hate relationship, much? xD**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	6. Round 1: Fight(Hide)!

"I'm a Hider... who else is a Hider?" Jesse called out, Ariza, Olivia, and Petra all raising their hands upon hearing the question, Cho and Becky following a second late.

A holographic screen suddenly rose from the bands, showing the masked woman. "Oh, one last thing- I said something wrong earlier, my apologies, folks, my apologies. The point system I was using was a bit off. If you're a Hider, and you're found, your team will not gain a point for being found. However, if the Hiders win- and even if only one hider remains, all of the Hiders win, they will get one point. If you are a Hider and are NOT found, your team will gain an extra point; so in the Hiding rounds, you can gain up to three points, if neither member of the team is found.

"If you're a Seeker, and you find a Hider, you gain a point per team, so even if you find two people, if they're both from the same team you won't get any points. However, if you catch two people, and they're on different teams, and the Seekers win, you can get up to THREE points in each round! Well, that's the only change. Once again, my apologies. Let the games begin!" The holographic screen turned off, and the timer restarted.

Jesse and Ariza shared a glance, before Petra shouted abruptly, "Split up!" All six of them scattered, looking around the huge house wildly for a good hiding spot. Jesse noticed Ariza clambering up the huge rocks that surrounded the fireplace, which looked as formidable as a mountain, so she bolted past that and ran past the doorway.

If the hallway had been confusing before, it now was a thousand times more so. Any 'landmark' Jesse had been using to find her way around the place was now out of sight or out of reach, so Jesse now couldn't find anything. She checked her watch.

Five seconds left.

Panic shot up Jesse's spine, and looking around, she spotted a small hole in the floorboards. Sucking her stomach in, she squeezed into the tiny space beneath the floorboards and backed up, pressing her back to cool stone, heart in her mouth.

Hopefully she wouldn't get caught.

* * *

Lukas looked around. The area around the stained-glass plate was completely dark, for some reason, and the Hiders had disappeared into this darkness so fast it was a bit disconcerting. He checked the bangle as the seconds ticked right down to zero.

Suddenly, the darkness lifted, and the timer reset to five minutes.

Five minutes to find them.

"All right, move move move!" Rebekah bolted out of the stained-glass area and began to run across the floor, looking for people. Ivor stepped out as well, dark blue eyes scanning the area around them, scrutinizing their location around them. Lukas felt a faint sense of vertigo when he looked up to find the ceiling leagues above his head.

After ten seconds passed, he realized it _probably_ would be a good idea to start looking, and so he started focusing, fully expecting Gommie to at least be waiting for him. To his faint surprise, she was already searching to the best of her ability.

"Okay, now if I were looking for someone, where would I-" A short pause, and then a faint sound of someone facepalming. Lukas looked over to see Toni reach out, one hand still pressed against her forehead, and a loud 'beep!' sounding. "Really, Becky? _Really?_ "

Lukas went to go over and look what was going on.

"Hey, it's a good book, alright?" Becky responded, sounding quite indignant. "Now, if I may," and she went back to reading the huge book. To be fairly honest, the book was open facing the wall, so Toni had had to walk around the book to find her... but still. First half a minute, and someone had been found.

"In a bit of a twist (not really), Petra's partner Becky has been found in the library behind a slightly open book by Toni. Axel and Toni's team get a point!" A faint dinging sound, but Lukas wasn't paying attention, anymore, he was looking around-

He spotted one of the ornaments on the mantel moving a bit. Maybe it was just his imagination, but...

"Is it just me," and he looked over at Gommie, who was squinting up at the mantel, "or did one of those things up there just move?" She was speaking softly, so as to not alert everyone to her words.

"Nope, I saw it too. You go from one end, I'll go from the other?"

Gommie nodded and headed towards the left, so Lukas made a beeline to his right instead, starting to climb the fireplace's rocks. He tried not to look down; falling from this height would mean almost certain death.

He finally managed to pull himself up onto the mantel-top, and suddenly he heard a yelp of surprise, and the black-haired girl with red streaks in her hair- Ariza, she was the one who made breakfast, right?- came bolting at him.

Shaking himself out of startled surprise, he lunged forward and tagged her on the arm, another beep sounding. Ariza stumbled backwards, and, to Lukas's rather acute horror, started to fall _off the mantel-_

"NOPE!" Gommie's arm stabbed out of nowhere and grabbed Ariza's arm, keeping one foot grounded on the mantel and the other half of the blackette's body literally dangling off into empty space, Ariza's green eyes wide with shock. Lukas came forward and reached out, managing to grab ahold of her other hand when she spotted him and got why he was stretching towards her. Between the two of them, they managed to pull Ariza to safety.

"Holy crap that was literally terrifying," Ariza groaned, flopping backwards onto solid- well, not ground, exactly, wood?- and panting. Her forehead was beaded with sweat, and if Lukas was any indication, her heart was probably beating so fast you could hear it through a solid wall.

Gommie nodded, looking utterly mortified. "You... said it..."

As the two friends looked at each other, dark brown eyes meeting reflective green, relief showing in both sets of eyes, Lukas nodded. "Right," he said, when they looked back at him, "I'm... um- I'm gonna go see if... I can find anyone else." He checked the bangle quickly; three minutes were still left.

"You do that," Ariza said agreeably, still breathing rather heavily.

Lukas gave her a feeble thumbs-up and a grin and started on his way back down the fireplace. Well, at least she wasn't dead.

Although it had been ever so _close._

 **A/N: Drama! Had to add that in for the story purposes. x3**

 **Another POV change next chapter!**

 **SquiddytheBlaze: Yeah xD**

 **ChoyofBonk: I love it! :3 And thank you, thank you xD**

 **RapidSammi: (makes a face back)**

 **rebekahtpe: I know, right? Streets. Clowns give me the creeps.**

 **LittleAngelbun: Believe me, I am too!**

 **NoItsBecky: I hope you don't mind how you were found... xD we were in the library so I didn't think you'd be able to help yourself xD**

 **x.X. A. L. X.x**


	7. Round 1: End!

Petra shuffled from where she was hiding, and also tried not to look down. Or wobble. Or sneeze. Because _Notch_ the top of this shelf was dusty.

Becky, for some reason, had decided not to try that hard in this round (I mean, I guess it was the first round...) and just ducked behind a book. Petra didn't know why, but she'd taken no chances and climbed a tiny set of 'steps' on the back of the small shelf and was now hiding from behind a picture frame.

Why the small shelf?

If she'd climbed the tall shelf, she would've gotten into a good hiding place by the time the time limit was up. Maybe the trick of this game was to keep moving? Wait, that seemed counter-intuitive... never mind, then.

She heard some footsteps, but she waved that off- that was probably all the Seekers around on the floor looking around for the Hiders. All she knew was that Ariza had been found (the masked woman had declared this shortly after a faint little yelp and a yell of "NOPE!"), and Becky. Jesse, Olivia, Cho, and her hadn't been found-

" _Boo!_ "

Petra instinctively let out a scream, jumped, hit her head on the top of the back of the picture frame and stumbled right into Lukas, who tagged her on the arm with some difficulty, seeing as he was laughing so hard he could barely breathe. There was a beep that was barely heard over his laughing fit.

"You- you _jerk!_ " Petra would've been much more indignant about this, except his laughter was a bit contagious, so soon the two of them were giggling and pretty much falling over each other as they tried to stop.

"I _hate_ you," Petra said finally, although the words were much less angry and more of a chuckle. Lukas patted her on the shoulder, a smirk on his face. "Lies, you love me."

The two teenagers sniggered, before Lukas stood back up and stretched. "Well, I'm gonna get back to it and see if I can find anyone else before the remaining..." he checked the bangles, "minute is up."

"You do that," Petra said, still trying to stop chuckling, and Lukas gave her a thumbs up before trotting off again.

Petra looked at the staircase. Should she head back...?

...

... nah.

* * *

"Hey, Ivor!"

Ivor jumped a bit. The dark-haired girl that he'd been teamed with was standing right next to him, a bright grin on her face. Honestly, how were some of these young people so _energetic_ in the mornings? Didn't most teenagers need a cup of coffee or something?

"Oh... hello..." he tried to stifle his yawn. It seemed vaguely polite.

Rebekah beamed. She didn't seem at all bothered by the lackluster response. "You found anyone yet?"

Ivor shook his head. Indeed, so far he'd poked his head around the door that lead to the hallway outside, but upon a quick look-around he decided no one was hiding there and went back inside. Although he'd heard a small gasp at one point, but that was probably his ears tricking him or something. "No, no luck. You?"

"Nope, not yet. I think things would go more smoothly if the Seekers worked together," Rebekah added pointedly. "Or if they _could,_ seeing as once you get to a certain distance communicating with them is pretty much impossible-"

Another holographic screen appeared. "Whoopsy-daisy," the masked woman said airily, "I'm _so_ forgetful, aren't I? The bangles have microphones built in; you can easily communicate with anyone in the arena by talking into it. Actually, you WILL be able to communicate, because there are only three channels- one is for you and your partner, one is with your team- Seekers or Hiders- and the last one is with everybody!" Subtitles scrolled across the bottom of the holographic screen, presumably for Gommie's benefit. Ivor still felt incredibly embarrassed about the question from the night before.

"Are you joking?" Ivor asked, sounding incredibly disgruntled, "that was a pretty large thing to forget to mention!"

Another airy laugh. "Sorry, dearies. Thirty seconds left!"

"Thirty- _thirty seconds?!"_ Ivor yelped, head snapping around. "Oh, oh god, um-"

"Just look at everything!" Gommie's voice came through the bangle on the wrist, and the Seekers went bolting around, looking around frantically, as Ivor checked the bangle repeatedly.

 _Twenty seconds._

Cho bolted out from under the hinge on the huge door, racing past and _barely_ dodging Rebekah's outstretched arm.

 _Ten seconds._

Olivia dodged out from where she'd been hiding in the spine of a book, racing past Lukas, who lunged at her and missed, and succeeded in sprawling on the floor instead.

 _Five._

Where had Jesse gone, by the way?

 _Four._

Ivor was racing after Cho and Olivia, who were oddly very quick. Perhaps it was adrenaline?

 _Three._

Rebekah's arm sailed _just_ over Olivia's shoulder as the dark-skinned girl skidded around and darted behind one of the huge bookshelves.

 _Two._

Ivor slowed to a stop on the floor, taking a deep breath.

 _One._

They'd lost.

 _BEEP._

"In the first sub-round of the first round- wow, confusing much? The Hiders win! The current point score is as follows-" And a little holographic screen rose from the bangles, Round 1 illuminated.

 _Jesse and Ariza: 2  
Olivia and Cho: 3  
Petra and Becky: 1  
Axel and Toni: 1  
Ivor and Rebekah: Donut.  
Lukas and Gommie: 2_

Ivor blinked at his and Rebekah's score. "What the heck does 'donut' mean?"

"I think she's referring to if you draw a zero on paper," Ariza's voice came over the bangle, "and then circle it, it looks like a donut."

Ivor blinked again. "... ah."

The bangles started beeping, a warm glow beginning to encase each of the players. "Alrighty, folks; teleportation back to the starting point will be in three, two... one."

And the sparks around them burst into being, taking them all back to the starting point.

 **A/N: So who do you all think is going to lose the first round? (not the sub-rounds) People who are in the story, you are all exempt from guessing. Welp, I hope you liked the chappie!**

 **RapidSammi: That a good thing or a bad thing xD**

 **rebekahtpe: The sheep. They don't fight. Also they're pretty big (sheep sized pigmen) so I definitely prefer the giant sheep.**

 **NoItsBecky: First round is a testing round ('testing round? whatever') that doesn't actually matter since they're all getting used to it, so it's not actually a matter of life and death at this point. And I think the rest I told you in the PM.**

 **ChoyofBonk: Lol xD**

 **DemonCatLady: Oh gosh xD Yeah I wouldn't mind playing, either. If, you know, it wasn't in that situation xD**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	8. Really, Axel? REALLY?

Olivia's bangle beeped as her feet touched down solidly, back on the stained-glass plate that was the starting point, and she looked down at it. " _SEEKER,_ " it read this time, flashing and buzzing insistently on her wrist. " _Find all the Hiders in the five minute time limit!_ "

She looked over to see Jesse looking at her wrist patiently, Ariza checking her own wrist while Petra and Becky looked at theirs and Cho read hers off as well, while Lukas, Ivor and Axel, along with their partners, streaked off into the darkness that was surrounding the area. She supposed that the masked woman somehow managed to rig the area around them with... well, something that made it dark. This woman _never ceased_ to impress the redstone engineer... against her will.

"Should we all work together this time?" she asked, still looking at her wrist.

Looking up, she was mostly looking at Petra and Jesse, but Becky was the first person to answer. "Sure. I guess that would work." She shrugged casually.

"Yeah," Petra nodded in agreement, "what she said."

Becky's lips twitched. For a moment, it looked like she was about to laugh. She didn't, of course, but at least she seemed to be capable of smiling. Or, well, coming close to it, anyway.

"Yeah, that seems okay," and Ariza gave a thumbs' up casually, giving the dark-skinned redstone engineer a small smile. Jesse nodded in agreement with her partner. Olivia blinked at her for a minute, before looking at Cho, whose hands were resting in the pockets of her yoga pants. Honestly, Olivia never knew yoga pants HAD pockets. "Agreed," Cho nodded.

Olivia checked her bangle again, spotting the time ticking down. Ten seconds left.

"All right, let's figure out our game plan," she spoke quickly and rather quietly, keeping one eye on the time so that it didn't run out on them. "Petra, Becky, you guys hid around the bookshelves, so you guys go check around the areas you were hiding. I kinda doubt anyone will be there, but it doesn't hurt to check.

"Gotcha," Petra agreed, and Becky conceded the idea with a nod. Olivia turned to Jesse, eye on the time. It was ticking down _fast._ "Jesse, you and Ariza go look around in the hallway outside. Maybe you'll spot something?"

Jesse coughed a bit, drawing everyone's attention to her. "Um, I hid outside, so I might be able to spot more details..."

"Cool. And Cho, you'll scout around the floor. I'll check the top of the mantel, then I'll join you." Olivia tried to sound more confident than she felt. She was not the biggest fan of heights.

Cho nodded, making a 'hyped up' sort of motion. "Got it!" she said, giving her a grin.

"Guys, stay on the channel meant for everyone- we might surprise them out of their hiding spots."

Everyone nodded at Olivia's last order. Olivia felt awkward about giving orders, but Jesse had been adamant- in terms of strategy for battles, Olivia was the man- well, girl- to go to.

There was an insistent buzzing, and the darkness faded away to reveal the huge room from earlier. "Go!"

And with that, all six of them streaked off to go do their respective tasks.

* * *

Axel tried not to shift from where he was hiding. With his size, the slightest shift would give him away.

Especially considering he was hiding behind a floor lamp.

Okay, he panicked, alright? He'd always been much better at the seeking portion of Hide and Seek than hiding.

"Hey, I think I see someone behind the lamp in the corner-"

Axel jumped. The voice- Cho's voice- had seemed to issue from his wristband, which vibrated with each word that was spoken. Then he realized it probably _had_ , because the wristbands were communicators. Stupid him!

"I see him!" Axel looked up to see Petra, who'd only gotten halfway to the bookshelf, now sprinting at him. He yelped and started to run away, fleeing his redhead friend, racing across the floor. However, he'd never been the best runner, and Petra was faster anyways. Her hand slapped the small of his back, knocking him off balance and making him fall flat on his face with a grunt.

"Ouch, you all right there, Axe-man?" Axel looked up at Petra with a grumble, Petra looking a bit sheepish at making him trip and fall. "I felt all of that."

"Yeah, that was one _heck_ of a landing, which I think your face made most of it," Petra teased, making the two of them grin nostalgically at the memory of someone saying something very similar. Axel sat up, crossing his legs into a criss-cross applesauce position as he got into place. "Welp, you get back to seeking then, Peets."

Petra gave him a pat on the head, making the burly boy scowl playfully at her and swipe at her halfheartedly. "Sure thing, greenie. By the way, I'm going to murder you later. I don't like that nickname," she threatened, although the threat was incredibly dampened by the fact that she was grinning widely at him, before rushing back over to the shelves, where Becky was searching on hands and knees. Axel checked his bangle. He was a little disappointed to see that he'd barely made it half a minute in, but whatever- now he got to chill out here on his spot on the floor.

"I think you're safe, by the way," he added mildly, his voice low so that Petra didn't hear and come back to see what was up.

"Cool. Thanks for not giving me away."

Axel gave his teammate a discreet thumbs up, as Toni's head poked out from behind the huge, ceiling-to-floor window curtains on the wall. "No problem. We're teammates, right?"

Toni looked around for a moment, before giving him another pat and then disappearing behind the curtain again. "Yep."

 **A/N: Hehe xD Neither of them chose the best hiding spots, but I guess Toni got a better one than Axel did xD**

 **Oh, and guess who decided to work on three MCSM fics at once?**

 **Yep.**

 **This chick.**

 **NoItsBecky: Lol xD Muffet is great. And yep! Second round has begun, and you are redeeming yourself. xD**

 **LittleAngelbun: The Endermite-sized sheep. I could pick up fifty of them, shove them in my pockets, and then take them all home as pets xD**

 **ChoyofBonk: You either got lucky, or you have a mystical hidden talent /o/ (dance emoji. Good thing we're not on Quotev...)**

 **rebekahtpe: xD And the masked lady has said several times; you get to watch! The spectators also have a special role in round six (winks) Least favorite? I don't think I have one, exactly. I don't use them very often.**

 **BAI!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	9. Found, Found, Found

Jesse searched the floor intently. The hallway seemed to stretch on for miles and miles, and everything was a hazard. Ariza had gotten her foot stuck in a vent at one point, and the two girls had wasted about twenty seconds trying to tow her back out. "Huh... do you think anyone could be hiding in one of these vases?" she pointed at one of said vases. It was a nice vase, although it was a rather weird shade of orange.

Ariza trooped over and looked at it. "... no. It's made of glazed ceramics. You'd have better luck climbing Rapunzel's hair in a rainstorm," she responded, giving it a sharp tap, before going back over to a mousehole in the wall, holding a torch inside. For some reason, all the things in her bag had shrunk with them as well, so she was able to wave a torch around. Jesse was jealous. Hey, alliteration.

"See anything?" Jesse asked, trotting over.

Ariza waved the torch around a bit, stretching her arm inside and squinting into the darkness. "Nothing really, just- oh... no, never mind, it's just a mousetrap. Don't go inside, Jesse."

Jesse obediently retreated, and then looked at her wrist. "... two minutes left," she reported.

"Ah. ... hang on, I'll be right back."

Jesse turned to see Ariza climbing through the mousehole. "Wait- what?! Ariza, didn't you just say-"

"Yeah, yeah, but I think I just saw something move..."

A few movements, and then a "A-ha!"

A loud yelp, the sound of scuffling, and then the sound of a mousetrap engaging, magnified to almost gunshot level, and Rebekah, covered in cobwebs and dust, bolted out of the hole, relatively unscathed. Jesse would've run after her, except there unleashed a deluge of curses that Becky would've been proud of.

"What? What happened?" Jesse booked it back over to the mousehole, where Ariza came out, looking shaken. Her right sleeve was torn, but she looked as though that was the only damage that she unscathed.

"Why the _f**k_ ," she demanded, looking severely worried, "do I have to be the one in mortal danger ninety-percent of the time?"

"I'm just glad it's not me," Jesse answered, making Ariza's deep, panicked breaths turn into a snort of amusement. Pressing a button on her wrist, she said, in a calm voice, "Ah... guys? Yeah, found one of the Hiders... she's booking it back inside, you should probably try to catch her..."

"On it," Becky said calmly, and then there was some soft staticky noises as someone kept jogging along on the other ends.

"So, Axel's been caught... how many more people do you think are going to get caught?"

Ariza thought. "... I have no idea, Jesse. Gosh!" And she rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips, making them laugh.

It was nice... to relax a bit in a situation like this.

* * *

Lukas peeked out from his spot in the potted plant, watching Rebekah bolt across the floor in a hot panic. Becky whirled around and broke away from the bookshelf to chase Rebekah, this bored-ish look on her face as she ran after the black-haired girl. Rebekah squeaked and skidded to a halt, immediately tearing off in the other direction.

He shifted, feeling the cool dirt sink under his body weight and dampen his jeans a bit. Now his jeans were covered in dirt and moisture... wonderful.

Petra suddenly managed to cut in front of Rebekah, who stumbled, tripped, and landed flat on her stomach with a yelp. She rolled aside of Petra and then started scrambling to get away, but the momentary pause had given Becky enough time to catch up, and she leaned over and batted Rebekah on the shoulder. A loud beeping rang out in the room, and the holographic screens rose from their bangles. Lukas ducked down just in time as the masked woman said, airily, "Well, lookie here! Our second elimination, a little over three minutes into the second sub-round, is Rebekah! This gains Petra and Becky's team another point!"

Lukas chanced a glance over the edge of the pot rim, to see Petra raising her hand in a high-five towards Becky. Becky looked at it, before gently batting it and then going back to the bookshelf. Petra lowered her hands, giving her partner a bit of a searching look.

Oh, speaking of partners, where was his...?

He looked around, before spotting someone in the potted plant above him. Squinting, he looked and... yep... there was Ivor. Ivor glanced down from where he was perched in the bush, touching a finger to his mouth in a 'shh' sort of motion. Okay, so that was one Hider accounted for... oh, wait, if he looked closely, someone seemed to be shifting a bit over there in the tissue box. Gommie's head poked over the edge, and she glanced at Lukas. It took her a few moments, but she raised one hand and gave him a thumbs up.

Lukas returned it discreetly, and checked the watch.

Only a minute left, he and the other Hiders had to las another minute, and they'd w-

"Gotcha."

Lukas jumped and almost toppled out of the potted plant. Looking up, he spotted Ariza smirking at him slightly, a hand on her hip. "Got revenge on you for nearly knocking me off the mantel," she teased a bit. "I think Petra's getting Ivor."

As if she'd spoken on cue, there was a loud yelp and Ivor toppled out of the potted plant and landed flat on his back next to Lukas. Petra hopped down from the bush and the two girls gave each other a high-five without even looking at each other. He had to wonder how she'd even gotten there, but then he realized that he'd been a bit distracted while looking around for the other Hiders.

"Found one," and there was a loud yelp as Toni jumped, Olivia's arm resting on her shoulder as another beep rang out. "I spotted you as I came in. Next time, Lukas, hide somewhere where your blonde hair doesn't stand out," and Ariza patted his head with a small smirk.

Lukas grinned sheepishly and rubbed his head, before checking his bangle.

Twenty seconds left.

"Now, where's Gommie... did anyone spot Gommie?" Ariza asked into her bangle.

"Nope. I think she's gonna be up on one of the shelves."

"Do we have time to climb any of them?"

A short pause while Cho thought. "I think a short one."

"Alright, well then whoever's near a shelf, try to check the top as fast as possible!"

Ten seconds left.

Ariza brushed her jeans off, climbing back out of the potted plant. "Well, we might as well get out of that dirt-hole," she called up, going down the side of the pot while Cho and Becky scrambled towards the top of the shelf. Well, Cho did. Becky was climbing a tad more slowly.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

 _BEEP._

"And with that brings the conclusion of the second sub-round! The Hiders win this round, surprisingly enough. Good hiding spot, Gommie! Seekers, work a little harder next time. And here's the new score, people!"

Scores appeared on the holographic screen.

 _Jesse and Ariza: 3  
Olivia and Cho: 4  
Petra and Becky: 4  
Axel and Toni: 2  
Ivor and Rebekah: 1  
Lukas and Gommie: 4_

"Forced teleportation will engage in five seconds. Be prepared to hide or seek, people!"

The sparks appeared again, and Lukas raised his eyebrow, letting his hand drop to his side again as the holographic screen flickered out.

Only one more sub-round, and the first round of this game of Hide and Seek would be over.

 **A/N: Welp! Little bit of a plot twist there at the end xD Hope you like it!**

 **Also, wow, guys, 1000 views and we haven't even reached ten chapters yet**

 **like what xD**

 **ChoyofBonk: Lol xD**

 **rebekahtpe: Crazy friend. That'd be more fun xD**

 **NoItsBecky: Axel. Definitely Axel xD**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	10. Round 3: Begin

**Before we get to the story, please vote on the poll up on my profile! It won't take too long, I promise, and I really do need the input... thanks! Now, to the story!**

* * *

Petra looked at her bangle as her feet and body solidified back on the stained glass plate, which, once again, was buzzing and vibrating harshly. She was pretty sure about what she was about to see, and she was not disappointed when she saw: _HIDERS. Hide from the seekers!_

Another holographic screen rose from the bangle before the timer started, the masked woman this time lazily twirling a piece of string around her fingers, cat-green eyes rather bored. "Oh, and by the way, if I feel like you're not doing your best in these games, or at least attempting to, I'll just kill you and your team off. Toodles!" And the holographic screen went away.

Becky huffed a bit. "Damn."

Petra looked at Becky, but the vibration of the bangle warned her that the 30-second grace period had started, and they needed to go and start hiding. Like, NOW.

She looked at Becky, this odd look on her face. "We need to talk later," she said quietly

Becky shrugged a bit, eyes narrowing a bit. "Fine by me. Now scatter!"

And all six of them tore off in different directions all at once, Cho and Olivia almost immediately running for the fireplace area. Petra was a little confused by Becky's rather... um... well, for lack of a better word, lazy behavior. She certainly hadn't seemed that way last night when they'd been rooming together...

Whatever! She had to hide first. She'd worry about that once she'd found a satisfactory hiding spot.

She spotted Jesse and Ariza ducking outside, so she adjusted her path so that this time, she was running towards the bookshelf, where Becky had also beelined. However, this time she spotted Becky determinedly climbing the tall shelf, hazel eyes narrowed as she scrambled up, and then moving quickly so that she was crouched in one of the hanging ornaments on the shelf.

Huh.

Petra dodged to her right, looking around so much that her hair whipped her in the face a bit, spotting Cho squeezing into a vase in the corner through a crack at the bottom and Olivia shift aside a log in the fireplace and hide in the ashes (which were thankfully cool, the fire had died down earlier), before pausing. A little ways behind her, was the large book which marked the general area where the Seekers were.

Did she dare...?

Making up her mind, she bolted for that, checking her bangle. Ten seconds left. Dropping to her hands and knees at the book, she crawled into the tight, small space that was the spine of the book on the floor, feeling her bangle beep as she settled into position in the very center, knees drawn up to her chest and arms squished uncomfortably against her sides as she faced the musty pages of the book.

 _Come find me, then._

* * *

Ivor watched as the darkness lifted, and then immediately began to search. If they didn't try harder this sub-round, they were going to lose the round...

Rebekah beelined to the bookshelves, immediately checking behind all the books. "Hmmm... nope... Ivor, can you check that vase over there?"

"On it!" he called, and ran over to do so, nearly tripping over his robes in his haste to get to the vase. Gommie and Toni were racing to get outside the door and check the hallway, and Axel and Lukas were scouring the area around the fireplace.

Ivor strolled around the perimeter of the vase, before spotting something move inside. Unsurely, he pushed his head through the crack, checking.

Nope. Nothing.

"Huh. Must've been my imaginat-" He got cut off as a voice issued through the bangle. "A point goes to Toni's team for catching Cho!" the masked woman called. If he glanced at his wrist, he could see that the masked lady was now playing Cat's Cradle with the string, as if she didn't really care about it that much.

Ivor pulled his head back out and looked around. It was the vase on the other side of the fireplace, where Cho was now sticking her head out with a sheepish look as her bangle buzzed insistently.

Ivor could've happily facepalmed. As it was, he still muttered a few rather quiet curses to himself before going back around the room, running around and looking about, dark blue eyes flickering everywhere.

"Hey- found someone!" and he looked over to see Lukas pull a rather sooty Olivia out of the fireplace. The dark-skinned girl sneezed as the masked woman announced her being caught, wiping her face a bit and only succeeding in smudging the soot around on her face.

"Well, if it makes you feel better, we wouldn't have found you if you hadn't sneezed."

Olivia sneezed again, making a little cloud of ashes puff off of her. "It doesn't really, but thanks."

Ivor shook his head and went back over to the bookshelf. As he passed by, he heard a sudden sound.

He paused, and then backtracked a few steps. The sound had come from... this book, on the floor... right next to where the Seeker platform was?

Kneeling down, he spotted someone curled up in the center of the book spine. Someone passed behind him, but Ivor was trying to make out who it was, before deciding it didn't really matter and squeezing into the spine, trying to move slowly so she didn't notice.

Petra- he could tell it was her, her voice was unmistakeable- chose that moment to sneeze violently, stirring up a small dust cloud in Ivor's face and, in turn, making HIM sneeze. Rather loudly, too.

Petra's head jerked up, and she caught sight of Ivor, and began to scramble away, limbs scrabbling as Ivor began to move towards her-

Another beep. "Petra has been caught by Lukas's team. They gain another point," the woman stated calmly, before perking up a bit. "Anyone else excited about the possible outcomes of this game? Who do you all think is going to win?"

Ivor muttered another swear before backing back out of the book spine and dusting himself off.

Well... at least they still had three minutes.

 **A/N: And next chapter the first round of Hide and Seek will be over!**

 **I'm sorry if this story gets boring at points, by the way. Bear with me!**

 **ChoyofBonk: Hey thanks! And yeah, I get what you mean xD**

 **RapidSammi: What does that ambiguous grin mean?**

 **rebekahtpe: Ghast hybrid. Because being half a ghast would be kinda cool. And lol! xD**

 **NoItsBecky: Lol thanks xD And that shall be explained... later xD**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	11. First Round: Clear

Olivia sighed as she rubbed her head. Well, the hiding place had been an okay one... if only she hadn't sneezed...

Cho looked fine, too- just rather dusty from squeezing into the vase. "They should really give more than thirty seconds for a huge arena like this..." she muttered, dusting off her sweater and sending plumes of dust flying off her, making Olivia sneeze again, sending a little sooty cloud up.

"... the two of us combined could make a smog cloud and just suffocate everybody..."

Olivia couldn't help the giggle that spilled out of her when she heard the grumbled joke. That one giggle triggered a chain reaction and soon the two girls were cracking up so hard that they couldn't breathe.

"Wh-why is this _funny...?_ "

"N- _no clue..._ "

* * *

Axel lifted up a section of the carpet, turning his head from side to side, before letting the carpet drop with an earth-shaking thud. For them, at least, since they were so tiny. "Nope."

Toni shrugged, stretching a bit. "Well... I wasn't really expecting them to be under there anyway." There aren't lumps or anything... and this carpet is _heavy._ "

"Says the one who did none of the lifting," Axel pointed out.

"Who says I have any upper body strength?"

"Ha. Ha."

Toni laughed at that, making Axel roll his eyes with a smirk. "Well, I see what you mean, though- I don't really think you would've been able to lift the carpet if I wasn't on your team..."

"See?"

"Yeah, yeah, yuk it up..."

* * *

Jesse checked her bangle, being sure to keep it under the part of the floorboard which was hard to see so no one would spot the flash of green as the electronic letters came across the bangle's screen.

Three minutes left.

Three minutes in which Ariza literally had to hang from part of the air vent.

Yeah.

THAT'S the spot she chose to hide in.

"Ariza?" Jesse asked, quickly turning on 'partner' mode so that the others couldn't overhear the conversation, and keeping her voice as low as she could get it. The microphone crackled a bit for a few moments before Ariza's voice, just as hushed as Jesse's, came over the small speaker. "Yes?"

"You alive?"

"Yeah."

"Are your arms giving out?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Jesse?"

"Yes?"

"I like you and all, but please stop talking to me before I lose my concentration."

"Okay."

"Thank you." The 'call' dropped.

Jesse checked her wristband again, checking through the crack in the floorboard.

Two minutes.

* * *

Lukas looked around the hallway. He'd thought he'd heard muttering, but it must've just been his imagination.

"... tch. Gommie?" he asked into his bangle.

"Hm?"

"Did you spot Becky, Ariza, or Jesse yet?"

A short crackle of static. "Ahh... I think I heard something on the bookshelf up there, but it's a bit of a climb... I'll see if that was a founded accusation..." and Gommie chuckled, a little too loudly.

"How do you know what I'm saying? You're deaf, right?" Lukas cringed the moment the words left his mouth. "I-I am _so_ sorry, that's not how I wanted that to come out-"

Gommie laughed. "Nah, it's cool. Actually, um, Cat-Eyes-"

"Who?"

"You know, the masked lady. Her eyes are kinda like a cat's."

"Oh. Okay, continue."

"Cat-Eyes found a way to change my bangle so it displays what people are saying. I try not to change to the other channels, because the names and what they're saying starts overlapping in this confusing mess and the bangle starts vibrating off the hook."

Olivia whistled over the overall channel, which was the one Lukas was currently on. "I have to say, 'Cat-Eyes' is good at impressing me against my will."

Lukas smirked a bit. "Okay. Well, I'm gonna keep checking the hallway."

"You do that."

* * *

Petra bit the inside of her cheek as Gommie started climbing the shelf. The ornament Becky was hiding in wasn't one that she could see out of...

"Becky?" she asked, as quietly as possible, into the private channel.

"Yeah?"

"Gommie's headed your way."

A quiet but heartfelt swear issued from the bangle. "Damn," she added, "can you distract Gommie for a minute? You know, so I can get out and find a different spot?"

"How? She can't hear me."

"Why the hell do you expect _me_ to know the answer to how I'm supposed to do it? I'm stuck in this ornament right now!"

"Hang on... I think I have an idea," and Petra was racing like an Olympic sprinter or something to the outside hallway, where she skidded around the door, nearly slammed facefirst into the doorframe, and seized Lukas's wrist. The blonde's face turned red as she yanked it up to her mouth. "P-Petra-?!"

"Hey, Gommie, right?!"

A short crackle of static as Becky's voice whispered over the bangle Petra had pressed to her ear, "It's working!" From that, Petra _assumed_ that Gommie had come to a stop, momentarily distracted. "You're Petra, right? How the heck did you get on the private channel-"

"Never mind that, how you doing?" Petra felt incredibly stupid, but she waited for the answer.

"... good?"

Lukas's face was red as he tugged his hand from Petra's. "Uhh.. that was weird," he said, clearing his throat a bit, before raising the bangle to his mouth as well. "Uh, sorry, Gom, she just came racing out of the room like an Olympic sprinter."

"... crap. Diversion."

"What?"

Petra shuffled her feet a bit as Becky's voice issued over the bangle again. "Whew... thanks. She didn't catch me."

"No problem," Petra answered, checking her bangle again.

One minute.

* * *

Ivor blinked as Petra bolted out of the room. "... that's odd."

"Yeeeaaaah, but hey, at least we don't have to participate in the death game."

"What?"

Rebekah put one finger up, leaning back. "Remember? Cat-Eyes said that if we survive the first five elimination rounds, we have to survive against HER, and if we lose that round, we'll die. So technically, it is better to get eliminated in the early rounds. Although now if you try to slack off, you die..."

Ivor blinked, his mind clicking. "Were you..."

"Not finding people on purpose? No, I'm just not good at hiding or seeking. Hide-and-seek isn't my _favorite_ game of all time, but it's not that bad," Rebekah said mildly. "But yes, if she hadn't said that I might've tried harder to win this game. But nothing can happen to us now, we only have..." she checked her wristband "thirty seconds."

"... oh."

Rebekah smirked a little. "What? Did you think because I'm peppy, I'm dumb?"

"No... but..."

Rebekah chuckled. "Well, I just have one thing to say to you, partner."

"... okay?"

"If you hurt my friends, I'll hurt you."

Ivor blinked at the brightly smiling dark-haired girl. "... I think the same goes for me."

"Fair enough."

The two of them automatically checked their 'watches'.

Five.

Four.

Three.

 _Two._

 _One._

"Time's up! Everyone will be teleported back into the stadium for grading and final points. And of course, our first elimination!" Cat-Eye's voice echoed over the speakers as a holographic screen appeared, her sitting back up straight and grinning broadly. "Y'all will be back on the plates in which you started, and next ch- whoooops, shouldn't have said that, almost broke the- haha, it's nothing. In a few minutes, I'll explain the mechanics of being eliminated, and then we'll get right into it! Toodles! See ya in a bit!"

And Ivor knew the feeling by now, so when the sparks began spitting around him, he simply relaxed.

And only seconds later, the forced teleportation took place.

 **A/N: BOOM! I think everyone knows who lost, but I need the next chapter to explain the logistics of being eliminated...**

 **See ya there!**

 **rebekahtpe: Lol xD We also have you being a badass in this chapter xD And... dress. Dresses are elegant. xD**

 **ChoyofBonk: I know how you feel, man. Thank you! (And that will be explained... next chapter xD)**

 **NoItsBecky: It will be explained in like two chapters, hang on friend!**

 **RapidSammi: ... is that good, then?**

 **Toni42: Lol tmw you realize, right? xD Apples are great, and no, it ain't the Hunger Games xD And yeah xD Donuts are awesome, Axel is a good teammate, whoop whoop, and you are correct. xD**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	12. Elimination

Jesse managed to trip forward and sprawl very ungracefully forward onto her pure white glass plate as her entire body solidified and almost cracked the glass by accident.

The huge screen revealed the woman, who was lounging like a cat on the chair, before she sat back up, cat-like eyes crinkling up. "Welcome back, Hiders and Seekers! Let's explain how elimination works, and then we'll get right into the final point count."

"So! Hide and Seek's elimination works like this: I think I've said that whoever has the least amount of points gets eliminated, right? Yeah? Alrighty then! Once your team has been eliminated, you may no longer participate in the game. It's nothing dramatic, y'all aren't gonna die or anything like that."

Everyone breathed an immense sigh of relief at this.

"However, you will still come to the stadium, where you will watch as our spectators! You'll be able to see the locations of the Hiders AND the Seekers on a little map in the corner of the screen, while our handy-dandy cameras will film everything from different points of view. Nothing drastic; except you will still receive bangles every time a round starts."

Ivor opened his mouth to ask why, but Cat-Eye cut him off. "I'll explain why, Potion Master Snape or whatever your name is, hold your horses! Now, the spectators still have a chance to 'participate' in the rounds of the game. They will still be able to communicate with everyone, although there will be no more 'private' channels, so whatever they say can be heard by everybody. So in this way, if they decide to, they can help out the Hiders or the Seekers. However, besides that, there are still three more things the spectators can do!

"The first thing, which is a prerequisite for the two other things, is to 'bet' on one team! When you 'bet' on a team, you are betting that that team will win. If the team loses, you don't really get anything, but if the team wins, you will gain the ability to bet on more teams at once. This way, you are able to either help out more of your friends, or sabotage them! Which leads us into the other things you can do.

"One thing you can do is to help your team! You can either cause a small distraction, if the team you've bet on is a Seeker at the time, privately suggest to a Hider a better spot for hiding, or, and this is the most 'expensive' option, now, a forced teleportation, which will get one or both members of the team you've bet on out of imminent danger if they're hiding. However you are only able to do it once, so pick wisely, alrighty?

"The next thing you can do, is to sabotage the team. That's right, you heard me there! If you 'bet' on the team, you are able to sabotage them! You can feed them false info about where a Hider or a Seeker is, or, and this is more 'expensive', lock them in place for a few minutes to run out the timer! Hiders will be unable to change positions, and Seekers will be unable to look for the Hiders in that time period. I find that a little dumb, because if you sabotage the team, you will not be able to vote on as many, but whatever.

"So, help or hinder? The decision is yours! With that said, let's get into the final point scoring!"

Her face disappeared, the subtitles vanished, and the final scores came onto holographic board.

 _Jesse and Ariza: 6  
Olivia and Cho: 5  
Petra and Becky: 6  
Lukas and Gommie: 7  
Axel and Toni: 3  
Ivor and Rebekah: 2_

Ivor grimaced a little at Rebekah, who just kind of shrugged at the result philosophically.

Subtitles appeared on the screen again. " _Ooh!_ It was a pretty close one there, but Toni and Axel just _barely_ beat out Ivor and Rebekah here! Good thing we didn't have to go into overtime. Everyone else has surprisingly high scores. Good job! And with that, Ivor and Rebekah! Are! _Eliminated!"_

Ivor's bangle started buzzing harshly, rattling so much that it nearly fell off his wrist. On the other side of the circle, Rebekah's was doing the same. Jesse leaned over to get a better look at it. Flashing across the little screen read the words: "SPECTATOR- YOU WILL SPECTATE NEXT ROUND. I HOPE YOU LISTENED TO WHAT I SAID, 'CAUSE I'M NOT REPEATING IT."

Jesse snorted at that, before Ivor let his wrist drop. Cat-Eye seemed to be thinking. "Ah... yeah. The next round will be tomorrow at the same time, so please be prepared! The reason I can't start the next round right away is because it takes a _very_ long time to set up the following arena. So, I will see y'all tomorrow! Have a nice day! Go do whatever. The bangles will drop off right... now." And there was the sound of metal scraping on metal as the bangles clattered to the glass plate.

"Please leave them there, you'll have to wear them tomorrow next round. Well then, I'll see ya! I do recommend you spend some time with your teammate and get to know them, because, well, you want to have a teammate who'll have your back, right? Right! Well, I assume so, at least... well, anyway, bye!" And the screen flickered off.

All of them looked at each other awkwardly. They had nothing to do right now, so...

Jesse finally glanced at Ariza. "Uhh, did you want to do anything...?"

Ariza thought about that for a minute. "... ehh, did you just wanna chat or something?"

Jesse shrugged awkwardly, looking at the black-haired girl. "Sure."

"Okey-dokey-Loki, c'mon then," and she started trotting off out of the stadium with a small smile on her face.

Slowly, the partners congregated, and Jesse spotted Petra and Becky walking out of the stadium at a slight distance from the other one on the opposite end as she walked out as well, before turning around more and breaking into a light jog after the girl with green eyes.

"H-hey, wait up!"

 **A/N: Next chapter or two we'll take a break, and then we'll have dinner and sleep, and then we're probably going to jump straight into the next round? Who's excited?**

 **Please vote on the poll on my profile! It won't take a minute, promise!**

 **ChoyofBonk: I believe so xD And I don't play officially, but when we played volleyball in PE my arms would be so sore... And oh xD You probably should've mentioned that... ah well too late xD**

 **rebekahtpe: Hahaha xD And cookies. Cake is too sweet for me. Ahh, that sucks.**

 **NoItsBecky: Hehe xD And yep.**

 **Choco: Yas x3**

 **RapidSammi: Yes. Yes she did. xD**

 **Toni42: Heh heh heh xD**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	13. The Prank Master Strikes

"Uhh... so... what do you want to do?" Lukas asked Gommie awkwardly.

Gommie hummed thoughtfully, turning a journal over in her hands as her dark brown eyes stared, unfocused, at the opposite wall. Lukas was about to ask the wavy-haired girl about the journal just to break the awkward silence that had fallen over them, when suddenly her eyes lit up and a big grin came over her face. " _Oh!_ Oh oh oh, I know what to do! Do you know how to prank people?" she asked, eyes sparkling brightly and setting off the blue streak in her hair.

(... wait hadn't it been green earlier?)

Lukas blinked at the sudden question from the wavy-haired girl. "Uh- well, I'm not very good," he said, rubbing his head sheepishly under her excited gaze.

Gommie grinned again, but this grin wasn't one that made Lukas feel good- no, in fact, _this_ particular grin she had on her face made Lukas feel more than a bit nervous. "Oh, is that the case? Well then, Luke-"

"Lukas-" Lukas automatically corrected.

"Lukas, watch and learn from the master," she said, one of her slightly bushy eyebrows rising a fraction of an inch, before a mischievous grin spread over her face, she grabbed the blonde's wrist, and with a surprisingly powerful pull yanked him out of the room, Lukas yelping in answer.

* * *

"What do you think about Cat-Eyes?" Olivia asked musingly as the two girls trotted through one of the maze-like hallways.

Cho hummed in return, running one hand through her dark brown hair. "Well, she seems a little like this spider character that's in this game, and a bit more sadistic than the spider character, but... well, I don't know, so far besides keeping us here, she hasn't really done anything to make me _dis_ like her _that_ much..."

"I know, right?" Olivia agreed, stretching a bit, "honestly, she's impressed me a bit at some points. Those bangles, and the subtitles... she's _really_ good with redstone. It takes a pro to hook up some of the stuff that's been hooked up."

Cho hummed agreeably, rubbing her head. "Yeah, I got that impression from the looks you keep giving her. ... hey, would you rather fight ten Ghast-sized cows, or a hundred cow-sized Ghasts?"

Olivia felt a grin come over her face as the two of them kept walking through the hallway. "I think I'd take the Ghast-sized cows. Cows really don't fight back, so it really wouldn't matter either way."

Cho seemed like she was about to respond, before suddenly pausing. "Did you hear something?"

Olivia paused as well. "Yeah, it sounds like..."

The two girls looked at each other, both of their eyebrows raised, brown eyes meeting brown eyes. "Cows?" Cho finished the thought for her.

Olivia went over to the only door in the hallway and pulled it open, before her jaw dropped and hit the floor. "What the heck?!"

Cho peeked over her shoulder to find the room literally full of cows, which were milling around lazily inside the room. One of them came up to Olivia and butted her with its head and a persistent "Moo".

* * *

"Okay, you said you wanted to talk?" Becky didn't waste time, crossing her arms and raising one of her eyebrows to look inquiringly at Petra.

"Yeah, earlier, in the game?" Petra asked, waiting to see if Becky got what she meant.

"I'm not stupid, Petra. Please just get on with it."

"Okay, well... you... didn't seem to want to participate that much... or try, really. Why?" Petra asked, summarizing up everything in her inquiry.

Becky thought about it for a moment, before replying rather shortly, "Because, if we'd lost, we wouldn't have to participate in the 'death round' in the last round. Or at least we'd have a lesser chance of getting to that stage and therefore a larger chance of survival."

"... oh." Petra wasn't really sure what else to say.

"See?" Becky glanced around, before asking, abruptly, "is that it? Because if it is, I really want to read a damn book."

Petra felt her lips twitch up in a grin. "Ah, sure."

Becky proceeded to walk away, grab a book- no, two- no, wait, never mind, ten- off the shelf, and then plop into a chair and start reading.

"... you really like reading, don't you?"

"Hell yeah."

Petra laughed at that, and she was pretty sure she could see the ghost of a smile on Becky's face, when she heard a sound. Turning around, the only thing she saw was a very innocent-looking chest.

Walking over, she carefully pushed it open.

And proceeded to fall backwards and land flat on her back as streamers, confetti, some paint, and other random party objects went shooting out in all directions with the loud blast of an air horn. "GAH!"

Becky looked up from her book, which she'd already gotten a chapter in, and blinked at the sight of Petra covered in very colorful confetti and other objects that you usually wouldn't see except at a party. Also, a good deal of green paint had splattered Petra's blue clothing. It was neon green, too.

"What the f*ck?"

* * *

"Uh, check."

"Darn."

Toni and Axel were attempting to play a game of chess. Emphasis on _attempting._ However, Axel didn't really know how to _play..._ so this made for some rather awkward gameplay. At least he got the general gist of what the pieces could do.

"Maybe we should play something else?" Toni suggested.

"This is the only board game that we can find," Axel pointed out. "Unless you'd rather we play BS or something?"

"No thanks," Toni said, looking at the board as Axel moved a bishop right in front of the king, blocking the path of Toni's bishop.

"... this is surprisingly kind of fun, if you think about it more like a story. I mean, there's a king, and queen, and knights," Axel said, leaning one cheek on his hand.

"I guess," Toni agreed, reaching out and grabbing an apple from the nearby bowl, and she was about to bite into it before pausing and looking at it more suspiciously. "... hey, Axel, is this kind of light to you?" And she chucked the apple at him.

He caught it and saw what she meant instantly. He looked at the apple, and tapped it with his finger. "... it's hollow."

Toni reached into the bowl and checked another apple. "... what the heck? I think all of the fruit is fake."

Axel's brow crinkled. "... huh."

The two teenagers looked at each other, before suddenly they were snickering and couldn't stop.

* * *

"Huh," Rebekah said, skipping along, "I didn't know you'd fought a dragon. Was it scary?"

Ivor thought about that. "I feel like I went numb with the terror," and a sheepish little chuckle. "I don't think any of us really had any idea what we were doing right there."

The two of them trotted into one of the empty rooms. While the two of them had been chatting mildly, Ivor had been searching to see if there were any rare potion ingredients or anything in the rooms. So far he hadn't really had much luck with that.

Ivor went over to a cabinet in the room and opened it, glancing back at Rebekah. "It's not like we'd ever had to deal with an enemy of that magnitude befoAGH!"

Turning back to the cabinet, he was immediately knocked to the floor by a huge deluge of green slime. Spitting some out of his mouth, he grimaced as he looked at his slime-soaked clothing. He surely had some in his hair as well...

He looked up to see Rebekah keeping a straight face so deliberately he could actually tell she was keeping a straight face. "Don't you dare laugh," he warned her.

"Why, of course not, Ivor. I would never laugh at my teammate," Rebekah said, with a completely straight face.

Ivor's eye twitched.

Rebekah proceeded to run out of the room cackling with laughter as a blob of slime splattered the wall behind her as she dodged out of the way. "Missed me!" she yelled back.

* * *

"Have we really been walking in the hallway for that long?" Jesse wondered as the two of them trotted along.

Ariza had been trying to lead them back to the room, but of course, the maze-like hallways didn't really help. And judging by the clock on the wall next to them they'd been looking for the room for six hours. What was weird was that it had only felt like about half an hour, not twelve times that.

Ariza popped her head into a random room to check to see if it was there room, before retracting her head with with a faintly puzzled look. "... I think it's only been two hours," she responded.

Jesse checked a smaller clock on a shelf nearby. "You sure? I think it's been five minutes," she reported.

And then her eyes caught another clock in one of the other rooms a little ways down the hallway, and her brow furrowed slightly. "Uh, never mind, it's been..." she paused, green eyes narrowing in confusion. "... twelve hours."

"What are you talking about? Why the heck are the clocks all screwed up?" Ariza's brow furrowed in slight frustration, but if you were observant you could see the way her lips twitched in faint amusement.

"I don't know... do you have a watch?" Jesse asked the other black-haired girl curiously.

Ariza checked in her bag, before looking back up at her partner. "I do not have a watch. Or a map of this house, for that matter."

"Damn."

* * *

Cat-Eyes watched as the members of the house went around getting pranked on the dozens of screens in the room.

She proceeded to look at the room and partially the hallway that was getting filled with cows, the Asian-skinned and darker-skinned girl trying to make their way through the cows. Then at the room where Petra was trying to get the streamers that were stuck in the paint off of her while Becky read a book and watched her with faint interest. Then she glanced at the room where Axel and Toni were snickering over the bowl of fake fruit, and then the hallway which Ivor was chasing Rebekah down, and then the hallway of where Ariza and Jesse were blundering around.

She finally leaned one cheek onto her hand. "They are funny," she said mildly.

 **A/N: Lol! xD The Prank Master has struck!**

 **But this is not the only chapter where these guys are gonna get pranked! ;) So look forward to that!**

 **Please vote on the poll on my profile!**

 **Would you rather live in a world where you can do whatever you want, but no one cares about what you're doing, or in a world where what you can do is extremely restricted but everyone cares about you and what you're doing?**

 **RapidSammi: Hehe xD**

 **ChoyofBonk: Uhh... not really xD I actually made up the spectator role last chapter because I thought it'd be boring otherwise xD xD**

 **NoItsBecky: Yep! And Becky's odd behavior is explained.**

 **Choco: Oh yes (evil grin)**

 **rebekahtpe: Ah sorry xD And damn! Good question. Uh, chocolate. But only dark chocolate. I hate milk chocolate. Or, well, I don't hate it, but it's way too sweet for me.**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	14. Pink Prop Hunt

Jesse fidgeted slightly, unsure how to put what she was about to say, before tentatively beginning. "Um... Petra... what are you wearing?"

There were quite a lot of titters in the room. Petra's scowl deepened.

She'd left her clothing in the laundry room last night, and overnight her blue-and-black clothing had turned a lovely shade of...

Pink.

"Well I like it," Becky said, patting Petra on the back comfortingly. Petra's eye twitched angrily. At least her bandanna was still blue. Jesse was sure she would've exploded long before that if it had turned pink as well.

"Well, it might take a lot of washes," Ariza hummed mildly, squinting at the clothing, "and maybe a lot of soap. But I'm sure we'll be able to return your clothing to the lovely blue it was before this happened." Her face was so straight it was a little obvious that she was just trying not to giggle.

Petra's eye twitched again. "... okay, but you're in charge of washing it."

Ariza nodded agreeably, before pausing, her eye having travelled a bit past Petra, and then rubbing her temple, a smirk playing on her face. "But somebody else needs to wash the pink out of Ivor's clothing."

Petra blinked, and then turned around. Once she did, it took a major effort for her to keep her face straight.

Ivor scowled at them all, daring to them to laugh. His clothing was now a shade of pink that was almost the exact same as Petra's, except for the gem on his belt, which was still a deep blue. "Don't you dare say a word," he warned Rebekah.

"Who, me? Why ever would I do that, Ivor?"

Ivor's eye twitched.

Petra finally chuckled, going over and slapping Ivor on the back, making the alchemist wince a bit. "Misery loves company, am I right?" she said, a reluctant smile coming over her face.

But then the smile faded. "But seriously, when I find out who did this, I'm going to kick their asses."

Gommie shrugged. "I think it's kind of brilliant honestly." And she took a bite of her food casually, leaning her cheek on her hand and looking around at the others calmly.

At the other end of the table, Lukas was finding something on the ceiling above him utterly _fascinating._

* * *

"Hello, hello! And welcome to our second round of Hide and Seek!"

Jesse adjusted her dungarees, eyes flicking upwards to the screen, where Cat-Eyes was leaning forward, chin on her laced fingers. "This one is actually a bit special, so I'm going to have to explain some things beforehand! Whenever a new aspect is added, I will take a few minutes to explain it to you before throwing you right into the first sub-round! Anyone ready? Alright! I'll start explaining!"

Jesse adjusted her bangle slightly as Cat-Eyes continued talking.

"Our lovely spectators," and Cat-Eyes nodded at Ivor and Rebekah, who were leaning on the railing patiently, "you listen too, just in case! Now, this round of Hide and Seek isn't just any NORMAL round of Hide-and-Seek- it's a prop hunt!"

Jesse heard a slight intake of breath.

"I think some of you don't know what a prop hunt is, so, let me explain. When you hide, you hide in plain sight- by choosing a prop in the room, and depending where you are, the things that are there vary. Then, you pick a spot, and wait. To turn into something else, you hit the item you want to change into, unless you're a Seeker. Seekers must try to hit the Hiders and 'tag' them, much like normal Hide and Seek. The prop can move, so if you're a seeker, look for like a moving soda or something."

Jesse glanced at Ariza. "Have you done this before?"

"Not in person, but I've watched somebody do it before."

"Is it difficult?"

"Not if you're observant."

Axel muttered a small swear at that point.

"The same rules apply. Spectators, I will now tell you the rules for your role! ... which we only have, like, two of. So admittedly it's not my best planning ANYWAY the first rule is that spectators are not allowed to bet on more than one team, unless you have the ability to. Since the spectators can't bet on more than one team right now, you may only bet on one team! And the second rule is, BOTH partners must bet on one team before the game starts! It must be the same team- the two partners must choose one team to bet on!"

Ivor examined the holographic screen that appeared in front of him, leaned back, and muttered to Rebekah. Rebekah nodded and they both tapped the screen.

"Fantastic! The bets will be revealed by the end of the second round. Any questions? No? Great!" she said, not even pausing after 'any questions', "Now, do y'all wanna head to the arena?"

Jesse at least knew what to expect this time, but it didn't make the tingly feeling or the fact that she felt as insubstantial as a wisp of fog any more pleasant than before. Her feet collided with the floor and she very elegantly stumbled forward, tripped, and landed flat on her face.

The first thing she noted was that everything looked normal sized, which was a relief; at least none of them could die from falling from a bookshelf or something. The second thing she noted was the fact that they seemed to be at some sort of waterpark or pool. They still all wore their normal clothes (although, Jesse noted with amusement that Petra's clothes were still bright pink), and Ivor and Rebekah were nowhere to be seen.

Jesse tilted her wrist to check it as it started buzzing.

 _SEEKER._

 _Find the Hiders within the time limit! There is a thirty-second grace period for the Hiders to start hiding, starting..._

 _Now._

 **A/N: Oooh! Anyone excited for the prop hunt?**

 **Thank you to Toni42 (I think I forgot last time, sorry Toni!) for helping me choose the themes of the first three arenas!**

 **RapidSammi: Lol yep xD**

 **NoItsBecky: Hehehe xD**

 **ChoyofBonk: Nope. And I don't know (shrugs)**

 **SquiddytheBlaze: Heehee xD**

 **rebekahtpe: Hahaha xD Yes, yes you did. Ummm... turtle. Pandas are more dangerous than turtles.**

 **Choco: Lol ikr xD**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	15. Plushies and Pool Toys

"Uhh, who else is a Seeker?" Jesse called, looking up from her bangle, before her voice trailed off. Around her, the waterpark had darkened so dramatically that seeing was like trying to see through a heavy curtain. Lukas, Gommie, and Ariza were the only ones who remained on the glass plate.

"I guess we're the Seekers, then?" Jesse said, with a light shrug at the end.

Lukas grimaced a bit, looking at his wrist, which also buzzed and displayed the word "SEEKER" on them. Gommie nodded next to them in agreement, and Ariza shrugged a bit, before adding, very mildly, "I've never been to a waterpark before."

Jesse looked around as well, shrugging slightly. "Neither have I."

Lukas nodded in agreement with the statement, while Gommie nodded mildly. "I have. Millions upon millions upon millions of times before."

Lukas grinned a bit at that before tilting his head at the others in interest, a ponderous expression on his face. "What do you think they'll hide as?"

Ariza's gaze switched so she was looking upwards vaguely, brow furrowing. "... you know, I don't actually know. There's lots of stuff in a waterpark, I'm pretty sure. Maybe they'll imitate a drink or something."

"Well, it'll be harder to spot them, that's for sure," Jesse sighed, rubbing her head, "they'll literally be hiding in plain sight. I don't think there'll be any noticeable signs, either..."

Gommie checked her bangle, before looking back up. "Well, we'll just have to do our best, since the seeking period starts in ten seconds."

Ariza took a deep breath and nodded, straightening up and clapping her hands together briskly. "Right, okay. Well, if we all collaborate properly, we might be able to find them all."

"Gotcha," Lukas nodded in agreement with the black-haired girl, whose lips quirked up in a small smile at him before the bangles buzzed again, the darkness lifting quickly, and all of them tearing off in every direction rapidly. Lukas headed for the actual water areas, Gommie headed for the food booths, and Jesse and Ariza headed near the locker room areas.

Ariza went straight to the small 'arcade' with the prize area, looking through quickly. "... uhh, Jesse? Can I borrow you for a second?" she asked, her eyes fixed on something inside. Jesse skidded, couldn't stop, and fell backwards. "Ouch..." Scrambling back to her feet, she beelined back over to Ariza. "Yeah, Riza?"

Ariza lifted her hand and pointed at one of the prizes, eyes narrowing. "Is it just me, or does that TNT plushie look suspicious?"

Jesse followed the red-streaked girl, eyes narrowing slightly. "... it _does_ look a bit odd, now that I think about it..."

Ariza nodded rapidly, her hair flitting into the air a bit as she nodded furiously. "Right?" she answered. "I don't know why, but I think I saw it move a few seconds ago."

Ariza stepped over the counter, accidentally knocking a cat plushie onto the floor, and then slowly reached out and moved to tap the TNT-plushie-

It zipped out from under her hands.

"That TNT plushie's a Hider!" Ariza shouted, lunging backwards in an effort to catch it and missing, crashing painfully to the floor. She proceeded to curse very quietly at that. Jesse moved quickly, but she stumbled a bit and missed as well. "Lukas, Gommie, there's a Hider disguised as a TNT plushie!"

"I see it!" Gommie skidded around the corner in front of the plushie, which skidded to a halt and began to reverse directions, but the wavy-haired girl lunged forward and slapped her hand onto the plushie sharply, which exploded into a small puff of smoke, revealing a panting Axel.

"Forty-five seconds into the game and Axel is out!" Cat-Eyes said in an almost sing-song voice, making all the Seekers glance up before look down at Axel, who panted a bit. "... man you guys are _fast_ ," he eked out when he wasn't panting so hard.

Ariza chuckled and then got back up, dusting herself off. "Jesse, you go scout out the girl's locker room. I'll check the boys."

"Isn't that awkward?"

"Hell yes," Ariza agreed empathetically, making Jesse laugh, "but we don't have enough time for Lukas and me to switch places, so it's just going to have to work for now."

"Fair enough."

And the two of them raced off. Gommie patted him nicely on the back before racing off towards the food stands again.

Axel shifted his position, leaning his arm onto one leg but looking appraisingly at the other objects. "... Olivia's probably impressed with the redstone," he said at length.

* * *

Lukas slowed his run to a rapid walk, since he really didn't want to slip on a wet patch of floor and then go splashing into the pool.

That would get rather awkward.

His blue eyes shifted from one spot to the next, and then he paused. Slowly, he backtracked and went over towards the pool, squinting at one of the little inflatable donuts (he didn't know what they were called, and he was hungry. Cut him some slack). It floated nicely in the water.

Too nicely.

It wasn't shifting with the shift and flow of the water, which was why he'd noticed it at all.

Slowly, Lukas put his leg into the water. He shivered a little initially but quickly became accustomed to the temperature, slowly wading in.

He changed his path slightly and glided a few feet past the donut...

And then he pivoted with a huge kick, sending up this huge splash of water, and lunged.

The inflatable donut thing moved, but not fast enough- Lukas got a mouthful of water for this, but his hand barely managed to slap the edge of the donut.

Pain exploded in his stomach, and he doubled over and yelped, getting even more water in his mouth as Petra inadvertently kicked him in the stomach as she reverted back to her regular form.

"Oh! Crap! I'm sorry, are you okay?" Petra treaded water, stroking back over to check if Lukas was okay.

Lukas spat out a mouthful of water and gave the redhead a sheepish smile. "Yeah. Just a bit winded. And I think I swallowed a bit too much pool water by accident."

"You know, I got a job with a pool maintenance company once, but the work was too _draining._ "

There was a full minute as they all tried to comprehend that, before a loud groan came over all of the bangles. Which were apparently waterproof, now that Lukas thought about it.

"GOMMADON REALLY?!"

 **A/N: Hahahaha xD**

 **Wow! 2000 views! Thanks guys!**

 **NoItsBecky: Hehehe pretty much xD**

 **RapidSammi: Ah both are good for me xD But if I have to choose Kaylee. I don't know why.**

 **rebekahtpe: Ikr xD and green. definitely green.**

 **Choco: Uhh... that good or bad? xD**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x.**


	16. Bad Nicknames, Jokes, and Puns

**Quick thing; I think there was a bit of a mixup last chapter- Gommie was the one to say the pun, not Petra. I probably should've made that clearer. Sorry! On to the actual chappie!**

Petra shook the water out of her hair and waded out of the pool, her still-pink clothes becoming soggy and heavy the second she stepped out. Lukas chucked a towel at her and she caught it, reflexes making it so that she snatched the towel out of the air. "Thanks," she told him, before drying herself off as best as she could. She was still incredibly damp, though.

"No problem," and Lukas came out of the pool as well, toweling himself off. His hair didn't stick up as well without hair gel, so a good half of it flopped into his eyes and dripped water down his face. Petra repressed the grin that was threatening to form on her face- judging by the slight pout on his face, that was not the best idea. "Anyway, how are you doing?" she asked, since, you know, they still had like three minutes. "You guys caught Axel... anybody else?"

"No, but I think Ariza's checking out the male locker-" A yelp came crackling over the bangles, Ariza's voice shouting, "Gotcha!", and the small telltale poof that meant one of them had reverted back into their form. "... room."

"About 2 minutes into this round of Hide and Seek, Becky has been found as a plunger!" Cat-Eyes announced. The nickname had stuck, so now the woman's name, to them at least, was Cat-Eyes. It was better than calling her 'The Woman' or something like that.

"Huh. I didn't think Becky would've been caught as a plunger in the bathroom," Petra commented, holding the now slightly damp towel in her hands. "D'you think she was in an awkward spot or something?"

Lukas shrugged in return. "Maybe she moved?"

"It's neither," and Ariza's voice came over the bangle, incredibly sheepish, "I tripped and my hand landed on the plunger handle by accident. It took that as me tagging Becky."

Lukas snorted. There was a short pause from Ariza. "Shut up, Blonde Guy."

"I will only stand Ivor calling me that and nobody else-"

"Fan-f*cking-tastic," Becky responded snappily, cutting off the silly argument and sounding a bit winded, "but next time _please_ don't land on top of my stomach..."

There was a slightly staticky sound. Petra could imagine the black-haired girl with the red streak in her hair throwing her arms up into the air. "I'm sorry! I tripped! On... this... cupcake..." Her voice trailed off.

There was a short pause.

"Now that I think of it, why the f**k is there a cupcake in the boy's locker room? Is it a Hider?"

There was a short pause. Petra could only assume that Ariza was trying to tag it.

"... no, it's just a cupcake."

"Again, why the f**k is there a cupcake-?"

"Why the heck do you think I know the answer to that?"

Petra had to smother the bangle with a towel and slap her hand over her mouth to keep them from hearing her laughing.

* * *

Ivor watched the screen intently, fiddling with the sleeve of his still pink robe. He was going to have to wash it again. "... huh, they're not doing too well," he commented in the most offhand way he really could, just to make some conversation.

"Yeahhhh," and the black-haired Rebekah shrugged a bit, "we'll have to help them out next round, I got a little caught up in watching this. It's like watching Aphmau!"

"... who?"

Rebekah opened her mouth, probably to expound on whoever Aphmau was, when Ariza interrupted, sounding a little too interested. "Oooh, is it really? I find it fun. Any hints, guys?" her voice turned a bit teasing on the last sentence.

"Nope! Sorry, Ritza-cracker."

There was a pause, in which everyone could _swear_ that Cat-Eyes was sniggering a bit. "... I'm just going to pretend you didn't call me that and keep searching."

Ivor glanced at Rebekah, who was giggling, his own lips twitching against his will. "'Ritza Cracker'?" he repeated.

Rebekah grinned at him. "Oh, believe me, there's lots of other nicknames for her that we all made up for her. Rizzy, Rizzy-Dizzy, 'Rima-chan, Riza-chan, Arima, Lucario, Flannel girl-"

"Hey, don't insult my black flannel," Ariza interjected, cutting off the brown-eyed-black-haired girl, "I like it. It's black. LIKE MY SOUL."

Rebekah grinned at the joke, laughter making its way over all the bangles. "Would you like the souls of the innocent, then, dearie?"

A loud groan from Becky, Cho, and Toni, although Gommie was cackling loudly at the joke. A pause from Ariza. "I'll take a bagel."

"OH MY F*CKING NOTCH-!"

"Guys, guys, really? _Really?_ "

Something in a foreign language. Seriously, Ivor was probably going to ask what this language was. He might try to learn it. He already knew some French, a little Latin, a bit of Shakespearean English (don't ask), and some Italian. Maybe he should try to pick up another one.

"Make it two bagels."

Ivor didn't get the joke, but there was a loud groan from the hazel-eyed girl, the Asian one, and the girl with freckles. Rebekah was in stitches, Gommie was snickering and trying not to, and Ariza just sounded ridiculously pleased about the whole thing. Actually, he could've sworn that Cat-Eyes was having a giggle fit behind her mask.

Ariza finally chuckled and shook her head, "Okay, we should _probably_ get back to work, huh?"

"Yes, please stop with the bad jokes," Becky added, although she did sound faintly amused.

Faintly.

Ariza chuckled again, green eyes crinkling up. "I'll try. Can't promise anything for Gommie, though."

"Don't worry, I won't tell any more bad jokes," Gommie said, her voice coming over the bangle, "I once heard this joke about amnesia, but I forgot how it goes."

Everybody groaned at this this time around, very loudly too.

 **A/N: Puns for days xD We also get some of the Authors acting like total dorks. Toni, Cho, and Becky, if you have any suggestions for bad jokes/things like that you'd want to do, PM me!**

 **rebekahtpe: Hehe xD Hmmmmm... Cassie because to a point, I actually like her. Also, she can fight better than Aiden, her redstone skills are pretty good, and she's a pretty good actor. And Gommie made the pun xD**

 **RapidSammi: Gommie made the pun xD**

 **SquiddytheBlaze: Hehehe xD I think they both look fab. Petra's just trying to pretend her clothes aren't pink right now xD**

 **ChoyofBonk: (shrugs) And yeah. OMG that would be so fun x3 You could make a Dirt house out of plushies.**

 **NoItsBecky: Gommie made the pun. I thought the last part would make it somewhat obvious xD I guess I probably should've made it clearer. Woops xD**

 **Choco: Donut floaties are awesome.**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	17. Happy Accidents

If any of the Hiders in the room were going to be found, out of her, Cho and Toni, it was going to be Olivia. She was... like seventy-percent positive that was going to be the case.

Toni had disguised herself as a very nice floor vase, and while it perhaps looked a bit out of place at the arcade, Olivia honestly couldn't see the difference between if Toni was sitting there or not. If she didn't look at it too long, she actually couldn't tell that it was out of place. Cho was one of the sticks on the pool table, and Olivia... was a soda.

Yep, Olivia was just sitting there on her side casually on the floor, looking like a very much empty soda bottle. Nope! Totally not suspicious at all.

"So, to recap really quick," Cho said, the cue stick turning over slightly, "Petra and Becky have been caught?"

"Yep. And my prop sucks," Olivia responded, sitting up. If you were a bystander, it would've looked completely bizarre to see the soda bottle going from lying on its side to standing up. It looked a bit like one of those cheesy levitation magic tricks.

"Aw, no it doesn't," Cho replied immediately, "You look fine!"

The vase tilted slightly, before stopping. Olivia could only guess that Toni had started nodding, realized how weird it looked, and stopped. "Yeah, honestly, I think the first person they're going to find is me. Where have you ever seen a vase in an arcade?"

"I haven't been to one in years, so heck if I know," Olivia responded, all three girls chuckling quietly.

"I think I heard them in here-" And all three girls instantly fell silent as the doorknob turned slightly, Jesse's long black hair dangling down as she stuck her head into the room, twisting her head and looking around. "What do you guys think?"

Lukas and Ariza proceeded to pop their heads into the room above Jesse, and then Gommie, and then they all unbalanced and fell to the floor with a loud THUD. Olivia winced as her bottle rattled, and she quickly fell back over to avoid suspicion. There was a soft series of groans.

"Ow," Ariza said flatly, making Jesse snicker as she unentangled herself from everyone else, crawling out from under the pile of limbs and bodies sprawled in the doorway. "Let's fan out, guys, I heard them all in here, so... well, logic _would_ demand that they're all in here..." And the short-black-haired girl grinned at everyone with faint amusement.

Jesse nodded and stood up, using Toni the vase as a thing to help her up to her feet-

A loud puff, and a startled shriek as Jesse fell back over, thankfully not landing on top of everyone else again as Toni gave a sheepish wave and grinned at them. "Uhh... hey guys..."

"... well we're getting lucky today," Ariza said with a laugh, hands going onto her hips.

"Speak for yourself... I think I bruised my tailbone," Jesse half-joked, getting back to her feet and dusting her overalls off. This made Ariza laugh again as Axel, Petra and Becky approached behind them.

* * *

Axel gave Toni a sheepish grin, which the brown-haired girl returned, adjusting her glasses a bit. "They caught me off guard. You?" he asked casually, tilting his head slightly at his partner.

"They got lucky," Toni responded, rubbing her head a bit where Jesse had been using it to lever herself back to her feet. "Didn't you see?"

"We showed up a bit late, so no."

"Oh."

"Hey, there's litter..." and Ariza beelined from the door over to an empty soda bottle. Toni let out a small groan and slapped her hand to her forehead with a soft, very quiet muttering. The reason was revealed when the soda bottle puffed, Ariza dropping the bottle in surprise as it turned back into Olivia, whose cheeks seemed rather pink as she hugged her ribs.

"... so I've only caught two people in this round by sheer luck," Ariza joked, holding out a hand to help Olivia up even as Cat-Eyes started making her announcement, which made Olivia chuckle a bit as she stood back up. "I think it also helps that you're very meticulous about cleaning up litter," the dark skinned girl added, giving the slightly taller female a grin.

"That too."

Axel checked his wrist and twisted his mouth, giving a small nod. "Uhh... well, the Hiders might still win, because there's thirty seconds left."

The Seekers immediately stopped joking and started poking around at everything, Lukas looking around and even shifting things aside before stopping at the pool table. He stared at it for a moment, before lunging forward and slapping his hand down on one of the cue sticks, flipping it into the air. Even as it flipped, it puffed before recondensing into the Asian girl with the ombre sweater, who landed on her stomach with a soft 'oof!'

"And with ten seconds left to spare, the Seekers win! We will return to the starting area once the timer runs out," Cat-Eyes announced, making Ariza shake her fist a bit with a grin and Gommie pump her fist in the air.

"Nice job, Lukas," Cho said, rubbing her head a bit with a laugh, "how'd you know that was me?"

"Cue sticks don't balance on the edge of the table like that," Lukas responded, and Cho lightly slapped a hand to her forehead. "Ah, I knew I was doing something wrong there. Ah well."

And with that, the bubbly, tingly feeling overtook them all as they were teleported back to the plate. Axel tilted his wrist to look at his bangle as he solidified, even though he already knew what was going to be flashing across the small screen.

 _SEEKER - Find the Hiders within the 5 minute time limit! (hey that kinda rhymed)_

 **A/N: Lol Cat-Eyes is a major dork on the inside xD**

 **Oh! Yes! The reason I didn't update for four days straight! Thanksgiving, and the fact that I worked for 6 hours straight on this comic that I'm trying to get out by tomorrow yesterday and the day before xD**

 **NoItsBecky: I love that vine so much it's not even realistic xD**

 **RapidSammi: That's goooood**

 **ChoyofBonk: Hehehe x3 No. He just knows someone's saying the foreign language xD**

 **rebekahtpe: it's a vine... just look up Undertale souls of the innocent vine and you'll find it. x3 And yes! Lol didn't know that xD**

 **Choco: I think he would like that actually xD**

 **SquiddyTheBlaze: Lol xD**

 **LunarStarsMoon: Look up Undertale souls of the innocent vine and you'll find the bagel joke. I love it xD and haha that was one of the best worst puns I could find xD**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	18. Awkward Hiding Spots

Jesse was running so fast that she came incredibly close to tripping and faceplanting. Thankfully she didn't. That... would've been incredibly painful. For both her and Ariza, since the both of them were running in the same direction.

Skidding around the locker room door on a patch of wet floor, almost conking her forehead against the door, she bolted in, looking around. There were towels, a small swimsuit rental, locker keys, even a cupcake.

Jesse checked her wrist.

10 seconds.

She spotted Ariza beelining to the pile of towels, but it was too late for her to run back out and look for a different spot. "Uh... Lucy?" She pronounced it more like Luke-y than the normal 'Lucy'.

There was a pause, before Ariza let out a soft humming sound in comprehension and a soft chuckle. Glancing back at the pile of towels, she now saw nothing except... well, the pile of towels. "Yeah?"

"Where do I hide?"

There was a pause. "Uhhhh, choose a locker key, I guess. I don't know."

"Okay!" Jesse bent over and slapped her palm onto the nearest of the locker keys.

Immediately, she shuddered as chills went racing up her spine. There was a strange tingly feeling, before she found herself lying flat on her back. Turning over, she was not _terribly_ pleased to see that now the lockers around her were HUGE. Which smacked of the previous round of Hide and Seek. Not that she could switch things to hide with now that the time had started.

"Did it work?" Jesse asked, voice echoing slightly in the locker room.

A short pause. "I _think_ so. I mean, I can't _see_ you, so I'd assume so."

"So, I guess we can see ourselves but other people can't?" Jesse could see her hands, but she was trying not to move around too much and attract suspicion. Which probably wouldn't work... she was a pretty fidgety person. She could never get how Lukas could sit at a table and read with barely any movement for hours on end.

"Yeah. I mean, I'm waving at you, but..." Jesse looked up to see a towel flapping at her.

"Cool," and Jesse's voice squeaked a bit. She covered her mouth before asking, in a faintly stilted tone, "So, you're... hiding as a towel then."

"A towel, yes."

"A towel."

"A towel."

Jesse decided to break the chain of 'towels' before they just kept repeating that over and over. "Uh, anyway... where do you think Lukas and Gommie are hiding?"

Another short pause. "... I don't really have any idea. Gommie's pretty good at Hide and Seek. Especially prop hunts."

"Have you done this before?"

Another short pause. Jesse was starting to notice that Ariza paused. A lot. "Sort of? I'll explain later when we're not in the middle of a game of Hide and Seek where you're on the floor and I'm over here." And a random towel flapped at Jesse again.

"I think I like that idea."

* * *

Lukas was literally pinching his nose at this point. He'd turned into a very fuzzy plushie on the back of the shelf in the prize area before realizing a rather significant problem. Namely, the fact that most of said plushies hadn't been touched in a while. This meant that a good deal of said plushies were very dusty. And this meant that he really, _really_ needed to sneeze. Typical.

Gommie had bolted off somewhere else, so he didn't exactly have the ability to climb out and find somewhere else while she distracted him. And if he tried to contact her via the bangle, he was DEFINITELY going to sneeze. And then there was the fact that Cho was now poking around in the prize area.

"Do you see anyone?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary so far," Cho responded, standing on her tiptoes and managing to knock a very dusty giraffe plush onto her head, making another cloud of dust puff up. Lukas was about ninety-nine percent sure that if he was to sneeze right about now, he'd manage to blow out his eardrums, and since he was kind of trying to avoid that, he was trying to figure out how to sneeze without getting caught...

Oh wait.

He jumped out of the plushie pile and started running for the pool area, hearing Cho yelp loudly and then say something in a foreign language. "One of the plushies just ran out of there!" she called loudly.

"Where's it headed?"

"Pool, I think!"

Lukas grabbed a towel and felt his entire body tingle violently before condensing into said towel, racing across the floor. Petra skidded around the corner, nearly slipped on the wet floor, and managed to keep herself upright by grabbing a railing, although judging by the very loud expletive she proceeded to utter she'd nearly dislocated her arm in the process.

Lukas raced around her and grabbed a small locker key, his body tingling again, before he jumped into the pool, quickly hiding in the far corner of the watery area.

He spotted a rubber ducky at the bottom as well, staring at him.

...

That was most probably Gommie but Lukas really couldn't tell.

Now, to figure out when it was safe to resurface for some air... because otherwise he'd probably suffocate and that was a pretty good situation to avoid.

While he was trying to figure out how to go to the surface without attracting too much attention, the rubber ducky ascended to the surface, bobbed there for a minute, before coming back down and nodding at Lukas slightly.

Yep, that was definitely Gommie.

 **A/N: A shorter (and slightly crappier) chapter than usual! Sorry... had no idea what to do here.. xD**

 **Oh! Please vote on the poll on my profile! If you already voted, I put up a new one, so I'd really appreciate it if you'd vote! If you've already done it, you get a virtual cookie. x3**

 **ChoyofBonk: Hehehe xD**

 **rebekahtpe: A banana. xD**

 **RapidSammi: Lol! Hi Sammi x3 I'll go find a mechanic for you...**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	19. Determination (and Ducks)

**Wow, at this point, all of my MCSM fanfics have at least 1000 views. Yay! Please check them out if you haven't already. If you have... have virtual cookies (throws all the virtual cookies into the air)**

"I missed him..." Petra grumbled, putting her hands on her hips sarcastically. "I guess that's why they say 'don't run on a wet floor'."

"Yeah, maybe Muffet there should've put that in her rules," Becky grumbled, rolling her eyes sarcastically.

Petra didn't really get the joke. She spent about five seconds trying to figure it out, before- "... oh!" Ariza's voice crackled over the bangle. There was a moment of silence, before a soft, catchy tune started coming over the bangle.

Becky snorted, the tiniest smile coming over her face. "Ah- okay. I think I saw him headed towards the pool. Well, I mean, I saw a towel, not Lukas, but- yeah."

"Oh. Okay. Wanna go together, then?" Petra suggested. "I know Cho and Becky have the game areas covered. And Axel and Toni have the locker rooms covered, and we're not switching around for another minute."

Becky thought about that for a minute, her hazel eyes narrowing. "... hmm, okay."

The two of them walked over to the pool area, but all that was there was a rubber ducky floating on the surface of the pool. I mean, ignoring the pool floaties that were floating in the pool, obviously.

It bobbed with the water, too. Petra walked around the perimeter of the pool, looking carefully, but she really spotted nothing out of the ordinary floating around. "... hmm, I guess he managed to run off," she mused, still walking.

"Duck."

"Quack." Gommie's voice came over the bangle, sounding highly amused, but Petra didn't think much of it. She turned to look over at Becky.

"What about the duck?"

Becky shook her head. "No, Petra, _duck-!_ "

CLANG.

Petra unleashed a flurry of swears that even Becky raised an eyebrow at, rubbing her stinging forehead. Looking up, there were a few signs that hung from iron poles, which is exactly what Petra had just walked right into. Fantastic.

Petra muttered another swear before Cho called over the bangles, "Hey, can you guys take over the locker rooms now? Axel and Toni are going to check the game area."

"Got it, we're headed there now," and Petra rubbed her head again before trotting back over to join Becky, who waited until Petra was more or less (a little less but whatever) next to her before starting off at a fast pace.

Passing Cho and Olivia, Petra gave the dark-skinned girl a grin and Becky nodded at the Asian girl. The two of them nodded, before Olivia raised her eyebrow. "Don't run by the pool?"

"That's probably a good idea, yes," Petra agreed, rubbing her head again. Cho and Olivia grinned before heading towards the pool. Once they were in a less slippery area, the two girls broke into a jog past Axel and Toni, who were waving away large clouds of dust (Axel waved at them upon seeing them through the dust) and then the two girls were at the locker rooms.

Petra scratched at her head. "Which one do you want?"

Becky shrugged and gestured vaguely at the girls'. "I think I'll take this one."

"Cool, meet you back here."

"Cool."

The two of them split up.

* * *

Ivor watched Becky sigh and sound rather annoyed as she looked around the locker room, before kneeling on the floor and beginning to poke random keys with a deadpan expression. "That's... wow, that's a _lot_ of locker keys on the ground." He rubbed his head.

Rebekah chuckled cheerfully, tugging at her hair a bit. "It was kind of Ariza's fault, though, remember? She tripped on that box of locker keys."

"Oh yeah, I remember now." Ivor couldn't help but smirk at the memory of Ariza first tripping on the box, stumbling, then tripping over the cupcake and crashing down onto the plunger with a yelp and a "Gotcha!" as she managed to catch herself without faceplanting. And then Becky had been found by complete and utter accident.

Ivor still found it kind of funny.

One key suddenly raced away as Becky's hand came really close to poking it, and Becky froze for a good three seconds in surprise before she lunged forward and pounced on it, hand slapping down on top of the key. A puff of smoke, and Jesse lay on her stomach with a groan, Becky's hand on her back. "Ow..." she grumbled, sitting back up and rubbing her shoulders painfully. "Did you have to slap me, Becky?" she asked as Cat-Eyes announced, "Becky has found Jesse and gained their team a point!"

"No, but I might not have hit you if I didn't."

"Sorry, let me rephrase that, did you have to slap me _that hard_?"

"... well, no, but why not?"

Jesse just grumbled in response.

"That was a pretty good hiding spot though," Rebekah said mildly as Ivor picked absentmindedly at his pink sleeve (he was still kind of mad about that, by the way), "too bad Becky is... determined."

Another pause, before Becky smirked, stood up, and swept a sarcastic bow at that, Ariza broke into a full giggle fit, and the other girls laughed or groaned alternatively. "Really, Rebekah? Really?" Toni asked, sarcasm lacing her voice.

"Thank you, thank you," Becky grinned as Jesse just looked confused. She really wasn't the only one though.

 **A/N: Slightly shorter than usual, but I had no more material for this chapter. xD Sorry, some very bad Undertale jokes right around here xD**

 **Please vote on the poll on my profile! If you do, you get more virtual cookies! xD If you haven't, go vote! If you have, you are a wonderful person! x3 Not that you're not if you haven't already xD**

 **RapidSammi: Uh oh. Does she want William Afton as a mechanic? I'm sure I can hire him.**

 **Wisteria light: Thanks!**

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 **rebekahtpe: I know right? xD And somewhere in the middle. I don't really care.**

 **ChoyofBonk: Yep here you go (gives you all da cookies) and thanks!**

 **Choco: Hehehe xD**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	20. Jinx and Dust

Olivia looked at the pool uncomfortably. She was not the best at swimming, unfortunately... "Do you want to jump in or something?" she asked Cho.

Cho snickered, covering her mouth even as her eyes sparkled with amusement, "Uh, no thank you. Thank you for that wonderful offer, though." She then proceeded to snort again.

Olivia gave her a lopsided smile before looking back into the pool. "Um..." She paused, before switching to the private channel and saying, very quietly and casually to Cho, "D'you know if there was a key in the pool earlier?" She raised one eyebrow slightly, but someone standing fifty feet away wouldn't have noticed. In fact, the two of them looked as if they were having a casual conversation to the unknowing bystander.

Cho squinted into the pool for a minute, but not at the key. "... probably not, but it's hard to tell... go pretend you're looking elsewhere for a minute."

Olivia arched her eyebrow at Cho a bit, a dubious look making her lips twist a bit. It wasn't that she doubted the Asian girl's ability to find people.

No, she was just not sure if the key was actually a Hider.

Cho gave Olivia a slightly lopsided grin. "Just trust me on this, okay?"

"I don't think I've NOT trusted you once this whole time," Olivia pointed out with a small grin at her partner, but she obediently trotted over to the sign Petra had clonked her head on (or, well, a sign at any rate, there was no way to see if Petra had rammed her noggin into it) and poked it. Of course, it didn't turn into a Hider- actually Olivia would've been rather surprised had the sign been a Hider.

Behind her, there was suddenly a loud splash, a loud, rather vehement exclamation in a foreign language, and a yelp. Olivia twisted back around mildly to see Cho soaking wet, Lukas's hair dripping into his eyes, and the blonde treading water at the edge of the pool with his clothes looking very, very wet indeed.

She made a very odd sound as she tried to stop her giggles. "Uh... wow, Lukas, nice hairdo." Okay, that was the first thing she thought of to say that didn't involve cracking up into a fit of laughter, give her a break would ya?

"Thanks," the blonde responded sardonically but with a wry smile, crawling out of the pool with sodden clothing. "I definitely have had enough with water. _Never_ need to see another body of water in my life ever again."

He'd probably just jinxed it.

Olivia glanced at Cho mildly. "By the way, you keep saying stuff in a foreign language...?" She purposefully let the question trail off.

Cho nodded at Olivia and clapped her hands together once. "Ahhh, yes. That would be Cantonese."

"Okay," Olivia said slowly, bobbing her head up and down in a slow nod, "so what are you saying in Cantonese?"

Cho thought about that for a minute or so, her facial expression becoming very thoughtful. "... you know, most of it really doesn't bear repeating."

Lukas snorted. Cho looked at him for a minute with this faintly disgruntled expression, before pushing him back into the pool.

Yep, he'd jinxed it.

* * *

Toni sneezed as she waved away a huge cloud of dust from her face. "Do you think _anyone_ is hiding in here?" she grumbled, giving yet another sneeze. "Good thing Cho took her allergy medication, otherwise she'd be totally incapacitated right now," she added quietly.

Axel looked around, giving another sneeze as well. "... no, I don't think so," he finally admitted.

"Damn," she said lightly, and Toni stepped out of the dust clouds and shook herself off, forming another miniature dust cloud right there in the hallway.

"Why are all these plushies so damn dusty?" Axel demanded to nobody in particular as the two of them dusted themselves off. Axel would've dusted Toni off, except he was a little concerned that he might accidentally hit too hard and knock her to the floor, since she and Jesse were about the same height and he'd done that to Jesse multiple times.

Toni proceeded to whack him with her arm, knocking another dust cloud off his back and making him yelp slightly. Axel rubbed his now-sore back and stepped away from the dust-cloud that had become the prize area. "I'm definitely not hiding here next round," he muttered.

"Ditto," Toni agreed, before adding with some indignance, "and why _are_ they dusty? This arena was literally made overnight."

"That... would be because I grabbed the plushies from someone's room that hasn't been used in twenty years," Cat-Eyes spoke over the bangles. She actually sounded slightly sheepish about the whole thing. She then added, voice back to that light and airy tone, "but you know, all the better for the Hiders."

Axel looked at the bangle for a couple seconds, then back up at his partner, giving the shorter female a lopsided grin. "You know, I'm finding it really hard to figure out if she's nice, or evil."

Toni regarded her bangle as well, giving a full moment of silence. "... you know, I'm feeling the same way."

Cat-Eyes didn't deign to respond, so either she didn't hear or she was just pretending to be lofty. It was kind of hard to tell which option it was from her personality. It could probably go either way.

Axel gave a noncommittal grunt and checked the bangle again, a not-terribly-pleased look coming over his face. "We did a... _really_ bad job this sub-round," he said slowly, scratching the back of his head.

Toni looked at her bangle to see that there was ten seconds left. "... well, in our defense, Gommie and Ariza are pretty good at prop hunts..." she mumbled, rubbing a hand through her brown hair.

Axel sneezed again in response.

 **A/N: Forced teleportation will probably be written into the next chapter or skipped altogether since you already know about it xD**

 **Next sub-round will come... next chappie xD**

 **Please vote on the poll on my profile! Since Different Outcomes will be completed relatively soon, I will need to know what two stories y'all want me to publish next. (Yes, two. I'll be taking on too many, but y'know what, I like a challenge.)**

 **ChoyofBonk: There are all kinds of cookies, so you can just take the soft ones. Ouch! That sounds painful. And thanks, friend!**

 **NoItsBecky: (laughs)**

 **rebekahtpe: I've also eaten paper. It's gross but bearable. So, paper. (So basically I'm eating wood pulp... so it's kind of the same as chewing one's pencil. You're getting wood pulp into your system. ... I'll shut up now)**

 **RapidSammi: Crispy, Stampy, I do need the votes... pwease? (gives them puppy eyes)**

 **Luna96: How is the concept funny? (is starting to smile even though I don't get the joke)**

 **Choco: Lol I guess**

 **Guest: Well, I don't find Skywars interesting (no offense!) so it would take me a really long time to figure out how a story like that would go. Sorry!**

 **SquiddytheBlaze: N'awww.**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	21. So Yeah, This is Happening

Jesse watched the bangle tick down, before looking up at Gommie and Ariza. "Um, so..." She shuffled her feet at her sudden attempt at making conversation. She was... _really_ not a social person.

"Hm?" Ariza looked up at her, tilting her head to one side innocently.

"How do you two..." she made a vague flailing motion in their direction. Judging by their facial expressions, the two girls had no idea what in the name of cheese puffs she was doing, so she dropped her arms. "... know each other?"

Ariza glanced at Gommie, who glanced back. Ariza scratched her head with a slight smile, letting her lips twist to one side in thought. "Uhh... I'd actually only ever read one story of hers before- we both like writing, by the way," and Ariza did jazz hands with a joking grin on her face.

"Oh! Me too," and Lukas waved a bit.

"Yeah, Writing Squad," Ariza joked with another set of jazz hands, before laughing. "Anyway, well, she asked me if she wanted to be in a story of hers, and I was just kinda like 'sure', and then from there we talked more and more." She then reached out and clapped Gommie on the back gently. "And now we're friends!"

Gommie bobbed her head up and down in a nod. "Yeperdoodles," she agreed, cheerfully.

"Oh, cool."

A short, awkward silence, before Ariza checked her bangle again, tilting it towards herself. "And the time starts in five seconds. I'll scout out the pool area this time."

Gommie thought about it. "... hmm, I'll inspect the prize area," she finally decided.

"I'll check out the game area," Jesse decided, before adding, "and I can take the girl's locker room, I suppose."

"I'll take the boy's locker room," Lukas suggested, raising his hand into the air a little bit.

"Thank you!" all three girls chorused loudly.

Jesse was about to run off, when she paused and glanced at Gommie. "Oh, Gommie, what were you hiding as? I got really curious from all the sounds."

"She hid as a rubber duck in the pool," Lukas responded, not smiling. In fact, he was keeping a straight face so well that Jesse could just _tell_ that he was trying not to smile.

Gommie blinked innocently at Jesse, somehow managing to pull off this incredibly innocent, wide-eyed look with her big, dark brown eyes. "Yeah, didn't you hear me say 'Quack'?"

Ariza cleared her throat, becoming rather _fascinated_ with something above her head. Her grin was barely visible behind her fist, which was at her mouth to clear her throat.

Jesse wasn't sure to laugh at that or not. She decided to compromise by giving this lopsided grin and then trotting off at lightspeed to go to the girl's locker room, Lukas trailing after her with this faintly amused look on his face.

* * *

Lukas entered the boy's locker room, looking around. He scanned the area, before spotting the cupcake that Ariza and Becky had been complaining about earlier. Crouching next to it, he gave it a good poke. He got a significant amount of icing all over his fingers, but nothing happened. Not even a poof.

"Uhh... gross." Lukas straightened up, looking for a towel, and found one in the pile nearby. Trotting over, he grabbed said towel and wiped the icing off, smearing a line of pink over the towel. Dropping said towel, he looked around again. There seemed to be nothing in the room that looked out of place.

Lukas was about to keep going in when he spotted a creeper head. I mean, he had spotted weird decorations in people's bathrooms (one person had pasted a map of their city on the wall as the wallpaper), but he'd never spotted a creeper in the locker room.

He was just regarding it before Axel's voice boomed out, "Would you just catch me and get it over with, already?!"

Lukas jumped- Axel had said it a bit more loudly than intended, not to mention the locker room itself made any sound sound five times louder, so the sudden voice went off like a gunshot in his ear, making him jump back, trip, and land flat on his back with a little gasp.

"Whoops, sorry, man."

Lukas sat back up and stared at Axel, who had a completely deadpan look on his face. (Or, well, that might just have been Lukas's imagination... creepers didn't really emote.) "Wha.. you... why did you..." He was having a difficult time putting two sentences together.

"It's too late to make a comeback right now. I highly doubt we're going to get enough points to not lose this round, so we're going to be kicked out. I'm not really good at hiding, anyway, I would've been eliminated either this round or the next one."

Lukas just stared at Axel for a minute, his eyebrow twitching slightly. "... isn't there a rule against not trying?" Was the first thing he could think to say right now.

"I have been trying- pretty darn hard, too. But I saw the look you were giving me, it's pretty darn suspicious. So I would've been found anyway, since I can't reach the door handle in this state without getting caught, or get past you fast enough to get to the door. Well, I mean, I could've tried, but I'm not good at it."

"... oh."

Very articulate, but Lukas didn't really know what to say in answer to that.

He finally just reached out and tapped Axel on the top of the creeper head, letting it puff and then Axel sitting on the floor with a bored look. Lukas and Axel just looked at each other for a few seconds before Axel shrugged and said, "Do you want to go see if you can find anyone else?"

"... uh... sure." Lukas got up and trotted out of the boy's locker room, still looking a bit taken aback.

Axel watched him for another minute before switching his bangle to a private channel and adding, "You're fine, Becky."

A soft, faintly relieved sigh. "Thanks for not giving me away."

"No problem."

 **A/N: Lol Lukas you should've kept poking around xD**

 **We're getting close to the end of the second round! Eee :3**

 **Please vote on the poll on my profile! As soon as Different Outcomes is completed, I'm putting up another story (and another poll for when another story is completed)**

 **ChloSky: ... ?**

 **NoItsBecky: No, sadly... I don't really know why, though.**

 **Luna96: Okey xD**

 **ChoyofBonk: Ouch xD You may be found... and you may not be. (wiggles eyebrows)**

 **rebekahtpe: Cake monsters... I can eat them! xD**

 **RapidSammi: Yay thanks :3**

 **Choco: Ooh yes please**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	22. Sleepy Dorks

Petra pulled her knees to her chest and tried to steady her breathing. She'd decided to hide as a plushie, and then raced off to the game area and flopped onto her side. Maybe they'd think it was a previously won plush that someone had forgotten...?

Well Olivia had a better hiding spot- she'd turned herself into a locker room key and then _somehow_ managed to get into the light area on the ceiling. She faced away from it, so hopefully she wouldn't get blinded if the lights turned on.

Which they did a few seconds after this thought. So hopefully Olivia didn't get blinded.

Petra glanced up to see Jesse poking her head into the game room. "Peets? You in here?" she called absentmindedly.

Petra debated yelling at Jesse not to call her 'Peets' but decided against it. She wasn't stupid.

Most of the time, anyways.

Jesse hummed and walked into the room, looking around. She proceeded to go around the room a couple of times a bit absentmindedly, feet tapping the carpet decisively, before pausing and backtracking a bit. Her feet stopped right next to Petra. Sh!t.

"Ariza would get all perfectionist on this fallen plush," Jesse chuckled as she looked down at the plush that was currently Petra.

"Probably," Ariza's voice crackled over the bangle. Petra was doing her best not to laugh.

Jesse shrugged with a good-natured grin and leaned down to pick up the plush, grabbing it by one of its 'arms' and grabbing ahold of Petra.

A small puff of smoke popped up from Petra, making Jesse yelp and hop back with a startled look as Petra expanded back into herself, also succeeding in smacking her head on one of the arcade machines and banging her ankle on another one. She could've sworn she heard Becky snicker.

Petra used a few choice words that do not really bear repeating.

"Language, Peets," Jesse said, a teasing grin on her face as she bopped her friend on the head with her knuckles.

Petra very maturely stuck her tongue out at Jesse, who just laughed. "Two down... a bunch to go."

Ariza's voice came over the bangle again. "Four, to be exact."

"Oh." Jesse considered that for a minute or two before apparently deciding she didn't really care. "Whatever."

"It's simple subtraction, Jesse..." A short pause on Ariza's end. "... or is that addition?"

Another pause, Jesse regarding the ceiling thoughtfully. "I don't know." Wow. Most insightful answer of the year. Jesse should win a medal.

"Yeah, we can't math today."

At this point, Petra was just grinning and doing her best not to. It was not working well.

* * *

Ivor was smirking at the exchange between the two girls. "Is Ariza this friendly all the time?" he asked.

Rebekah was dangling upside down in her chair (out of boredom), but looked up at Ivor when he asked the question. "Hm? Well, yeah! She's awesome!" Her eyes sparkled as she began to 'fangirl', as Jesse would've put it.

Ivor's eyebrow went up, but before he could continue Ariza's voice came over the bangle. "Hey, Ivor, do you want me to wash your robe after this is over? Petra already has me down for that, so I might as well."

"... oh!" In all the excitement, Ivor had actually managed to forget that his and Petra's clothing was a shade of pink. "Yes please."

"Okay. Rebekah, wanna help me?"

"Do we get to hang out?"

A pause from Ariza. Ivor could see her biting her lip thoughtfully, tapping her foot as she stared upwards. "... sort of? Does doing laundry count as hanging out?"

"Okay then!" Rebekah said cheerfully, ignoring the question, "sure!"

"Coolio," and Ariza gave Rebekah a thumbs' up, before putting her hands on her hips as she went back to searching. "Hey, Cat-Eyes?"

A very long pause as Ariza waited for"... oh. Yes?" The screen flickered to life, the masked woman quickly sitting back upright.

"What type of laundry detergent do you have?"

"... uh. One second." A 'Please Stand By' screen appeared on the... uhh... screen, before Cat-Eyes reappeared after a minute. "We have Tide and Downy, I think."

"Oh. Okay. Thanks."

"... you're welcome? But why are you asking during the-"

"GOTCHA!"

Ariza jumped forward and grabbed someone, making them yelp loudly. She then proceeded to drag Toni out from underneath a deck chair, a grin plastered on her face. "Good hiding spot, by the way."

Toni laughed and rubbed her head awkwardly. "Not very good if you found me this fast..."

"What are you talking about, it took me 3 minutes to find you," Ariza joked back, gently punching her friend on the shoulder. The freckled brunette smiled a bit and adjusted her glasses.

Ivor had the feeling Cat-Eyes was raising her eyebrow, because that was exactly what HE was doing. "Did you just ask me about the laundry detergent during the game to lull Toni into a sense of false security?" Cat-Eyes asked. She may or may not have sounded faintly amused and/or impressed.

Ariza shrugged casually as she went back to looking around the pool area for Hiders. "I did actually have to know about the laundry so I decided to do both at the same time and kill two birds with one stone. I really don't like that expression, by the way. Why couldn't it be eat two cupcakes with one bite, or something along those lines? Cupcakes are nice," Ariza asked absentmindedly, continuing to scour the pool area.

Ivor may or may not have snorted at this.

 **A/N: Ariza gets to be a dork this chapter. She's sleepy. (When I'm sleepy, I start acting really really silly. It's a bit like I'm drunk or something xD except I don't do anything outright stupid. I just act all dorky and sleepy and like a sleepy chibi)**

 **Please vote on the poll on my profile! It literally closes tonight, so the next one that I publish will be based on the poll results! So if you haven't, please go vote!**

 **NoItsBecky: Nope, not yet xD You got really lucky xD**

 **ChoyofBonk: Don't ask me how, once I start writing I find it incredibly hard to get distracted.**

 **rebekahtpe: He's just kind of in a state of shock right now because of Axel's sudden thing xD**

 **Choco: Yay! Thank you! (eats)**

 **Looover: Hehe xD And thanks!**

 **Guest: Sorry! I just don't have interest in it (Skywars), so it would turn out really shitty and I don't want to write shitty stuff... xD I'm sorry!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	23. Happy Birthday, Gommie!

**I know this is updated out of order, since I'm still trying to complete Glitch's remaining several chapters. You'll see why in a minute.**

* * *

Olivia was still holding her breath as Jesse began to trot out of the room, before suddenly a voice crackled over all of the bangles, casually, "what time is it?" Gommie.

Jesse paused in the doorway, one foot keeping the door open so it didn't swing shut and smack into her, and she raised her wrist and twisted it to herself so she could see the time. "Um, 10:27, why?"

"I am officially one year closer to death today."

A very long pause at this somewhat frightening statement, before Gommie added, sounding faintly amused, "The less creepy interpretation of that is that today is my birthday."

"Whoa! Really?" Rebekah nearly SHOUTED into the bangle, making Olivia wince a bit as it blared into the room loudly and nearly toppled backwards into the light fixture. That would not have turned out well...

"Yep, I gave Gom her gift yesterday, it was a drawing," Ariza said mildly, before yawning slightly, a tiny little one. "Sorry, I'm sleepy."

"No, no, this is absolutely adorable," Cho teased over her bangle, before sighing a bit, sounding slightly less amused and a little more annoyed. Gommie let out a happy sound and tagged her on the arm. "Gotcha!" she called out.

"Happy birthday, you get an easy Hider," Cho responded casually. Olivia stifled a laugh at this. "That was nice of you," she commented, struggling not to sound amused.

"Well it's her birthday," was Cho's amused response.

Jesse put her hands on her hips. "Well, c'mon, then, we gotta sing for Gommie!" she declared, this grin forming on her face.

"Oh, no, m-maybe we should finish the game and then-"

"No, let's sing for Gommie!" Ariza cut in, accidentally interrupting Gommie and sounding ridiculously happy about the fact. "Let's begin- _happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you_ ," and now most of the people in the rooms were singing, even Ivor and Olivia was about 56 percent sure even _Cat-Eyes_ joined in (but she really couldn't be sure about it), which was a rather amusing thing to listen to. " _Happy birthday dear Gommie-"_

"Goomie-"

"Gommadon-"

"Sammie-" Cat-Eyes's cat eyes blinked.

"Gomma Ray-"

"Gomow-"

Olivia blinked at the random nicknames the group of girls that were playing with them belted out, but then the next verse came so she didn't really have time to think about it, " _HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!_ " There was then a spattered thing of applause from every member of the game (including Olivia) that made the bangles crackle loudly and rather painfully. At least there was no feedback.

"What were all the weird names for?" Axel asked, casually enough but still trying not to laugh. She could tell, his voice was skipping a couple syllables from how amused he was.

"Oh, those are some of Gommie's nicknames," Becky responded, sounding faintly amused, "although 'Gommadon' is a bit new to me."

"I made that one up," and Ariza was giggling slightly now because of the fact that she was happy (and also because she was sleepy). "I don't think anyone's called her 'Gomow' in a while, though."

"Nope, just Gommie."

"Or Goomie."

Cue more laughter from the group of girls, including Gommie.

* * *

Axel sniggered in amusement at the banter currently ongoing between the several girls, before checking his bangle. "There are... 40 seconds left," he announced.

A long pause from everyone as they debated if they wanted to go do some more searching. (Well, I mean, of course no one _wanted_ to, but then again...)

"Ehhh, I'll let the 'don't try and you die' rule go for now," Cat-Eyes said, suddenly, "just take it easy for the remaining 30 seconds."

"Oh- seriously?" Petra sounded surprised. Axel really couldn't blame her. There were some times Cat-Eyes was creepy as a psychotic clown (albeit one who acted very sweet, a bit like a mom or something)... and then there were other times that Axel thought that she was actually being _nice_ to them. It was weird.

"Sure. Consider it my birthday gift for the birthday girl," Cat-Eyes responded, sounding faintly amused.

"Oh. Uhhh, thanks." This was from Gommie.

"No problem."

Ariza let out another tiny yawn, covering her mouth to try to stifle it. A loud "awwww" from Toni. "She yawns like a kitten!" the latter girl declared, sounding very cheerful about this fact and about declaring it to all and sundry.

There was a pause, in which several people (including Olivia) may or may not have giggled. "No I don't..." Ariza protested, trailing off a bit sheepishly

Another giggle from Rebekah. "You kinda do, 'Ritza cracker. Is your gift to Gommie today acting like a total sleepy chibi dork? Because you totally yawn like a kitten."

"N-no, I- what- I don't..." Ariza was getting so flustered by their teasing that she didn't even protest at the nickname.

"You do, I heard it," Lukas called out over the bangle, sounding incredibly amused by this fact.

A snigger from Gommie. "You really do, Riza-chan."

A short silence from the black-with-a-red-streak-haired girl. "I hate you guys..."

"Lies, you love us all."

"..." The silence that Ariza proceeded to deliver proved their point, making everyone laugh again.

The bangles suddenly buzzed, making Axel glance down at his wrist again. _TIME'S UP,_ the bangle read.

"Time's up, Hiders and Seekers! Time for the second round's final score and the second elimination!" Cat-Eyes announced, sounding rather amused by this whole thing. "Please stay where you are for the forced teleportation to take effect."

Even as she finished speaking, Axel felt that familiar tingly feeling, and he quickly moved so that he was sitting on the floor, before the game arena disappeared from his field of vision and they were headed back.

* * *

 **A/N: HAPPY BIRTHDAY GOMMADON! May you have many more! (and may you not kill me for being a sleepy dork and for calling you a ton of random nicknames, lol xD )**

 **NoItsBecky: Nope xD**

 **rebekahtpe: Lol, well I can't sleep during the day... I just start acting all like a sleepy chibi, but no matter how hard I try I can't go to sleep in the middle of the day. This made naptime during my preschool years very boring. Hoodies (they are much softer).**

 **RapidSammi: Lol thanks I try**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	24. Finally, an Update

**A/N: Sooo sorry for the late chapter! I got some temporary writer's block... ungh...**

 **Welp, enjoy!**

* * *

Jesse landed on her plate, tripped, and nearly landed flat on her face again. Seriously, she _still_ wasn't used to this forced teleportation thing. It was disorienting.

"Sooo, welcome back to the arena, people! Another group will be EEEE- _liminated_ again this round!" Cat-Eyes called, clapping her hands together as subtitles rolled across the bottom of the screen for Gommie.

"So! Alrighty, this round was fairly straightforward, actually, so there's not much explanation that I really need to do. Next round is similar to the first round that we went through, and the round after that _should_ be similar to this one. And then the last two are a surprise, so I ain't givin' any of that away!"

"Is it just me, or does she seem really peppy all of a sudden..." Ivor muttered to Rebekah, who was perched in the stands next to him. The girl hesitated, before shrugging at him. Which really seemed to confirm it- Cat-Eyes was being oddly perky all of a sudden.

Cat-Eyes leaned back in her chair. "So, quick recap in case y'all forgot how this works- the group with the lowest amount of points is gonna lose and will become spectators. By the way, if one of the spectators' voted group gets eliminated, unless they are at the lowest amount of one group, they will lose the ability to vote for one group- so for example, if they have three votes, they will only have two votes the next round. Do keep in mind the fact that I may or may not have added up the points incorrectly, by the way, so if you have any corrections, let me know, 'kay?

Everyone barely had time to give a shrug or a nod before she continued, clapping her hands together again, "So, let's get onto the point display, shall we?"

Her face disappeared and was replaced with the scoring for that round.

 _Gommie and Lukas: 9  
Jesse and Ariza: 8  
Petra and Becky: 3  
Olivia and Cho: 2  
Axel and Toni: 1  
Ivor and Rebekah: SPECTATORS_

"Surprisingly, Gommie and Lukas got a nearly perfect score. Once again, folks, this score may be horribly wrong, I may have counted them all up wrong, let me know if you see something wrong with the math. Anywho! Good job to y'all who made it to the next round. As for Axel and Toni, they! Are! ELIMINATED!"

Axel and Toni's bangles suddenly buzzed violently, rattling around on their wrists for a minute as they displayed the words "ELIMINATED. YOU ARE A SPECTATOR NEXT ROUND," before making an unsheathing sound and clattering to the glass of the forced teleportation plates.

"Eh, we tried," Toni said after a minute of looking at the rattling bangles, putting her hands on her hips.

"Alrighty! So just go do whatever until this time tomorrow morning, since I need to set up the next game arena again. Sorry, hope y'all don't mind!" Cat-Eyes's, um, 'cat eyes' sparkled with amusement. G'bye for now!"

The huge screen she was on flickered off, and the bangles unsheathed rapidly before clattering to the glass tiles like the ones who'd been 'eliminated'- the eliminated bangles were still rattling around and being a general nuisance.

Ariza yawned again.

"Okay, seriously, she yawns like a kitten," Gommie said suddenly, pointing at the black-haired girl. Ariza's cheeks flushed pink as she kept on yawning her kitten yawn. "No I-" Punctuated by a yawn. "No I don't!"

"You seriously do, Ritza-Cracker."

Ariza turned to stare at Rebekah with this incredibly deadpan look that was almost a little withering. Rebekah remained serenely unwithered.

"Ritzy-Kitty! That's another nickname for her," Jesse suggested suddenly- it was an idea that just randomly popped into her head.

"I'm going to go eat something. Let me know when you want to stop teasing me about my kitten yawn. ... and when you want me to wash your clothes, Petra, Ivor."

Ariza exited with what was left of her dignity (especially because she was going to start laughing at this conversation any minute soon). Jesse stifled a laugh herself before stretching a little bit. "Welp, I'm going to go take a nap or something. See you all at dinner or something, okay?"

She waited for everyone to at least nod or make a sound to indicate that they'd heard her, and once they had she lifted her hand in a wave and trotted off to go find their room (she'd cheated a bit this time, she'd left a chalk trail on the floor this morning while heading to the breakfast hall- no one wanted to try to find their room for half an hour before bedtime, so they'd all marked trails to their respective rooms using various colored chalks that they'd found in one of the rooms the day before).

"I think I'll go play some chess with Olivia," Cho decided after a minute, "where do they keep the chess set, Toni?"

"It's in a closet next to the kitchen; don't open the door too suddenly either," Toni responded, before trotting off towards her own room. "I'm going to go online for a bit and see if I can do some reading or somethin'."

Axel shrugged and trotted after her. "I think I'll take a nap."

Petra and Becky excused themselves to go to the library, while Ivor and Rebekah moved out of the stands to go head towards one of the hallways- presumably to look for more potion ingredients. (Orrr Ivor and Petra could've been heading to the laundry room to try to make their clothes go back to a normal shade... either option seemed to work, honestly.)

Lukas waited until everyone was out of earshot, before glancing at Gommie. "Are we doing that again?"

"Oh, you'd better believe it," the wavy-haired girl said, stretching and cracking her knuckles a bit with a huge, mischievous grin unfurling on her face.

Lukas let out a little sigh and rubbed his forehead. "Why am I not surprised..."

* * *

 **A/N: Ooh, the Prank Master makes a (very late) comeback next chapter... xD**

 **Anyway, hope you liked this overdue chappie! Updates are getting back to normal now, so they should be pretty frequent (unless there's like a day where I don't update, that just means I got distracted).**

 **NoItsBecky: (thumbs up)**

 **RapidSammi: You're welcome x3**

 **rebekahtpe: hehe xD and no, can't say I have. But I have gotten a nosebleed in the middle of a math test for no reason at all. xD**

 **Emily The Avenger: ?**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	25. The Prank Master's Return

Ariza was about to start washing her hair when she stopped, staring at the substance in her hands. Now that she thought about it, it seemed a little more... sticky than shampoo was supposed to be. And it smelled different than the shampoo Cat-Eyes had left in the bathrooms... (yes, she'd smelled it a couple times).

She gave it an experimental sniff. It smelled kind of minty, like...

She touched her tongue to it experimentally, before drawing it back into her mouth and giving the bottle in her hands a long, bewildered stare.

"Toothpaste."

She stared at the toothpaste-filled shampoo bottle for a moment, her mental cogs whirring and clanking noisily in her hand and drowning out the sound of the shower within her mind.

She finally muttered, "The Prank Master strikes again," before quickly turning off the water, climbing out, and grabbing the toothpaste bottle and switching it out for the shampoo bottle before walking back over to the shower and turning the water back on.

"I'll clean up the water on the floor later."

* * *

"This is... disturbing." Petra poked her head back into the library just in time for Becky to mutter this, her eyebrows raised and a faint red blush on her cheeks.

"What's disturbing?"

The blonde-brown-haired girl jumped a couple inches as she turned to see the redhead wearing a plain white t-shirt and shorts- after giving their laundry twelve washes, both Ivor and Petra had relented and let her go have some of her own time (since she'd barely eaten one bite of her apple before the two of them burst in asking her to wash their laundry).

"Oh, hi Petra." She waved the book at Petra before pulling the one next to it off the shelf. "I'm not sure, but... I think the Prank Master decided to pay me a little visit and replaced all the books with one specific book."

"This one book is enough to make you blush, apparently," Petra added, her eyebrow raised.

Becky's blush deepened until it was nearly a deep crimson. This was actually a little disturbing; Becky hardly ever really emoted anything except for annoyance. But right now it looked like she might actually be _embarrassed_.

"... yeah. It's also a bit of a pain in the arse, I wanted to read something new. This is not new for me."

"Well, what book is it?" Petra asked. She still didn't really know why Becky was blushing.

Becky tossed the book underhand at Petra, the redhead having good enough reflexes to snatch it out of the air and look at the cover.

A moment later, her own blush spread over her face, and she just blinked at the cover several times as if trying to blink it back out of existence. "... ah." She now understood why Becky was blushing.

The book's cover read, **_50 Shades of Grey._**

* * *

Jesse was still looking for her room- while they'd found it relatively easily, she'd had to go to the bathroom... and now she was lost in the hallway again.

Thankfully, it didn't take long to find the long strand of yarn in the hallway, and following that to the door which lead to her room wasn't too much of a problem (at one point she almost started going the wrong way before realizing this and rectifying her mistake), and she pushed the door open.

The black-haired girl blinked.

Maybe she'd gotten the room wrong after all?

The room was _upside down._

The bed, the dressers- even the lamps were Notch-damn upside down right now.

It wasn't until a drip of green hit the floor that the slightly-sleepy Jesse realized what must've happened- the Prank Master (seriously, who else could've pulled this off) had gooed everything in this room to the ceiling and basically turned the room upside down.

As if to confirm this fact, one of the lamps slowly began to unstick before coming loose and falling from the ceiling to the floor.

Jesse hauled the door shut just in time to hear a loud smashing sound and to hear something smack into the door.

Opening the door again, she saw a spray of ceramics blasted in a circle from the impact point and several shards of ceramics wobbling on the floor near where it must've blasted straight into the door.

"... that Notch-damned Prank Master..."

* * *

Axel was in the middle of his nap when something smacked into his face, making him jolt upright, overbalance, and topple off the bed. Toni twisted around from where she was sitting with a laptop- he'd been chatting with her until he fell asleep, just to pass the time. "Oh- Axel? Something wrong?"

The burly boy let out a grunt as he sat up and rubbed his face. "Uh, nothing important- I think something smacked me in the... face... though..." Axel looked down at the slightly gooey book that was oozing green slime on the floor. Both teenagers sat and stared at the book.

"How in the world did that-" Toni was cut off with a yelp, rubbing her own head as another book bounced off her head and landed on the floor next to her. Then another book came down.

Axel looked up at the ceiling musingly- and then froze. "... uh... Toni?"

The pixie-cut-haired girl slowly followed his gaze and felt her jaw hit the floor at the sight of _hundreds_ of books slimed firmly to the ceiling, dripping slime and a couple of them starting to fall out.

Another one began to drip off, and then another.

"Take cover?"

"Take cover."

Axel dove under the bed he'd borrowed, and Toni snatched up her laptop and followed under her own, moments before a barrage of slimed books came unstuck from the ceiling and hit the floor with enough force to make the whole room vibrate ominously.

"Yeah, I am going to kick the Prank Master's butt from here to Kansas," Toni grumbled when the last book thudded to the floor.

Axel just poked his head out from under the bed and regarded the sticky, oozing book covers. "... y'know, I think I agree with you on that front."

* * *

Ivor and Rebekah were moving through the hallways, looking for potion ingredients again. This time, Ivor was very careful about opening any random doors- he also had Rebekah open some of the doors herself, so...

They were just passing one room to the left when the door flew open, making Ivor stagger and ram into a small table that he was pretty sure hadn't been in there the day before. He unleashed a very creative slur of curses before glancing up at Rebekah apologetically.

Not that she noticed; she'd just run into a large vase and had to catch it before it shattered.

"Does this hallway seem a little-" Her hip rammed into another small table, knocking three ornaments off of it and letting them smash on the floor, spraying ceramic shards on the floor. "Shifted over to you?"

"Yes, now that you mention it-"

Ivor didn't even finish his sentence when another door flew open, slamming full into his face and sending him reeling back, into an umbrella stand, tripping backwards over the fallen vase and Rebekah, and slamming flat onto his back.

Rebekah was learning exactly how many swears Ivor really knew in this one hour.

* * *

Cho and Olivia were playing chess in the kitchen when Cat-Eyes flickered into view on the screen. "You two haven't gotten pranked by the Prank Master yet?" she asked, sounding amused by something.

"Nope, not since the last time with the cows," Olivia responded, moving one piece.

She'd barely done so when the piece she'd just set down suddenly squirted slime at her, making the dark-skinned girl dive out of the way and narrowly miss getting a faceful of the stuff. "Never mind that, I think I jinxed it."

Cho regarded the chess set and her losing stance before shifting over to look at the girl currently on the kitchen floor. "Do you want to put this away and go figure out what mischief this Prank Master has been causing?"

"I think that would be a stellar idea."

Cleaning up the slime and the chessboards, the two girls left the room discussing what they thought had happened.

Cat-Eyes watched them go for a minute, leaning her cheek into her hand. "... I wonder if Lukas and Gommie know that I know that they're the ones who've been pranking everybody," she murmured casually.

She considered this for a moment. "Should I tell everyone else?"

There was a very long, pregnant pause as she watched the doorway in which Cho and Olivia had just retreated, considering her options.

"... nah."

* * *

 **A/N: Hahahaha xD these pranks are all brilliant...**

 **S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: (laughs) Hi Salsa. And hehehe we're not alone**

 **NoItsBecky: Mayyybe :3**

 **ChoyofBonk: That's precisely why it's a late chapter xD And chess... apparently turned into a round of Gobstones haha xD**

 **RapidSammi: (is knocked over by your tackle-hug)**

 **rebekahtpe: Hehehe xD And yes. Sooo annoying.**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	26. Books

Jesse was annoyed.

Not because of all the pranks, though that _did_ have something to do with why she was this annoyed right now. No, it's not because she'd spent half an hour looking for her room when all she'd really wanted was to take a nap.

No, she was annoyed because she'd spent the last twenty minutes trying to towel off goo-soaked books.

"Jeb," she grumbled, lifting up one of the books, "why the heck is this covered in slime? Honestly... at least it's still somewhat legible," and she cracked the book open to see slightly (but only slightly) smeared text written inside the book, before shutting it again and setting it onto the pile of books next to her a moment later.

Ariza looked up from the book she was currently toweling off. "It's better than literally all of the books being 50 Shades of Grey. Honestly, the Prank Master could've chosen a better book... or at least a more appropriate one for the situation," she added, before adding another slightly-wet book to the growing pile of books next to her.

Petra, back in her normal blue and black clothing (to her IMMENSE relief), thumbed through the pages of one book carefully as she dried it off. "Well, at least these books are mostly okay- Becky was pretty pissed at losing all of her reading material to the Prank Master."

Lukas scowled a little bit and rubbed his forehead. "I just wish the Prank Master hadn't written on my head in permanent marker." The 'Prank Master' had written what appeared to be random letters: PMR ZPTR, on his forehead. Well, at least they knew who the Prank Master WASN'T, right?

Gommie had gotten pranked, too- she'd gotten the entirety of her head dyed forest green while she'd been taking a nap. So she couldn't be the culprit either. Ariza and the rest of the group had been rather suspicious, because apparently Gommie was known for her AMAZING pranks, but then it turned out that she'd gotten pranked, so she wasn't the culprit either.

The problem was, if they took everyone who'd been pranked into consideration, that meant Cat-Eyes pretty much had to be the culprit.

Olivia set another book next to her before picking up another slimed book. "You have to wonder if Cat-Eyes is really evil, or if we're all just here for some massive prank," she mumbled, a faint smirk twitching over her lips.

Cho snorted a little bit at that. "Yeah, like if the final group wins, she'll just be like 'Oh! Okay then. I was bored. You go and have fun' before skipping off into the sunset or something like that?" she set down her book to do a playful set of jazz hands to punctuate her point.

The now green-haired Gommie smirked at this, scrubbing at another slimed book with a towel. "That WOULD be funny, but I actually think from her personality so far that's not going to happen."

"Mmmnnn," Axel grunted a bit in agreement before toweling off yet another book and tossing it onto his own pile.

Becky had the smallest pile of books so far; she'd open a book to check the legibility and then get totally absorbed in the story by accident before one of the other members in the room (usually Ivor or Ariza, they were both situated next to the girl) would poke her and make her look up at them all as if she were a deer that had gotten caught in headlights.

Toni shrugged and shifted her weight before checking another book. "Well, they didn't damage the books _too_ much, so there wasn't too much damage done today." She checked the number of books. "Uh, a lot down... about seventeen to go," she alerted the others. Jesse was relieved to see that there were only about twenty books left for them all to clean off.

"Speak for yourself," Ivor scowled in return, "I think I've gotten seventeen new bruises in the past day alone."

"And I've learned five hundred sixty-three curses in the past hour alone," Rebekah added with faint amusement, toweling another book off and tossing it onto the pile of books that was steadily growing next to her, "So... nothing really _dangerous_ has been happening, but if Cat-Eyes decides to take a more deadly turn with these traps..."

"I don't think she'll do that."

Everyone looked at Lukas. He shrugged when he spotted the looks everyone else was shooting him. "I mean, so far she's just wanted to see all of US playing this game of hers; she hasn't actually done much directly to try to hurt us herself. So I don't think she'll try to take a more lethal turn with these pranks."

"... hmm, true," and Ariza tilted her head thoughtfully, "she actually _hasn't_ done that much yet. And judging from her personality as of thus far, she probably won't try to do anything more dangerous."

As they went back to trying to clean off the books, Cat-Eyes leaned back in her seat and yanked at another thread of yarn. "... hmm, I think I'll make their life a little harder next round for thinking that _I_ was the Prank Master."

She gave a mock-offended sniff. "As if I would pull such entertaining pranks on them... no, I'd hire someone to pull amazing pranks and then film everyone getting pranked."

She nodded after she thought about it for a minute. "Yes. Yes, that's precisely what I'd do."

And she returned to watching the group cleaning off all the books.

"... hmm, I wonder how Toni'll like the next arena... well, we'll see."

* * *

 **A/N: (laughs) All of the books are safe (well, a little wetter for wear, but nothing too damaging).**

 **What? What's that about the next arena? Toni's more directly involved with this one? W H A T?**

 **Who thinks who is getting eliminated next round? Which pair will become a spectator next round?**

 **S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: (laughs)**

 **NoItsBecky: (laughs) Nope, the books are all fine. A bit wet perhaps, but otherwise perfectly okay xD**

 **RapidSammi: The pranks are hilarious xD so far I've almost washed my hair with toothpaste and gotten the time totally mixed up**

 **TopRanger237: Hehehe xD**

 **rebekahtpe: Pranked by the Prank Master, every time. I NEED MY FANDOMS.**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	27. Movie Mode? What's That?

"Hellooooo everybody and welcome back to another day of this wonderful game of Hide and Seek!"

Jesse blinked as Cat-Eyes waved wildly on the screen, her mask still covering her face, like usual. "So today, our lovely spectators are, dah-dah-dah-daaaah," she imitated a fanfare, "Ivor and Rebekah and Axel and Toni! So, first, they need to vote on who they think will win this round."

Ivor and Rebekah glanced at each other, and Axel and Toni did the same. They conversed among themselves for a couple seconds, before they all tapped an option on the touch screen in front of them. Of course, Jesse couldn't see it properly.

"Fantastic! Okay, so now I'll be introducing round number three to y'all! Now, this location _may_ be familiar to a good deal of people- especially Toni!"

Everyone glanced at Toni curiously. The girl spread her arms out and shrugged, a confused look playing in her eyes.

"Has anyone here heard of 'Movie Mode'?"

Immediately, there was a loud intake of breath from the Authors, or so Jesse had started dubbing them- they seemed to enjoy reading and writing stories. Well, Rebekah seemed more on the reading spectrum, but she was pretty sure Rebekah had written a couple stories, too.

Right now, though, that was NOT the focus- Ariza's eyes were wide, Gommie looked as though someone had just cracked a lance over her head, Rebekah was gaping soundlessly, Cho's eye was twitching, Becky looked as though she were about to swear Cat-Eyes to Saturday and back, and Toni looked as though she'd rather like to take the touchscreen and smash it over Cat-Eyes' head.

Of course, Cat-Eyes completely ignored the reactions of the Authors and kept talking cheerfully. "Of course you have! I mean, half of you have heard of it at least. I'm not surprised the other half hasn't heard of it, but too bad, I ain't explainin' it to those who haven't heard of it, but round number three takes place in the Movie Mode house!"

Cat-Eyes sounded very happy about this fact. This worried Jesse.

Toni squinted at Cat-Eyes but said nothing.

"Oh, c'mon, I thought you'd all be happy about that! Especially after I spent so much time working on the arena... aww, I thought you'd like it..." Cat-Eyes pretended to dab away a tear at this.

"Well, whatever. This round's just a normal Hide and Seek round- no prop hunts or mods or nothin' silly like that. However, I am putting a change on the time limit- since this arena's so much huger than the previous ones," and Cat-Eyes spread her arms as wide as they would go to emphasize her point, "Hiders instead get ten minutes to hide, and Seekers get ten minutes to find the Hiders!"

She nodded at the spectators. "Of course, the spectators get a map of the whole arena as well as watching the players of the game. This time, though, they get one of each 'ability' in terms of helping- a forced teleportation to get the team out of imminent danger, or to get them nearest to a Hider, and the ability to cause a distraction. However, they are allowed to help out their own team by suggesting hiding spots as much as they want and correspond with their team. It's not gonna be a secret to everyone anymore which teams they bet on, because that got really boring last round."

Jesse wasn't sure whether to laugh at this or not. She decided to remain silent.

"And one more thing; bangles now emit a small 'forcefield' of sound cancelling when talking to others, so it's not possible for a Seeker to talk to everyone and figure out where a Hider is hiding that way. It took me a lot of time to set that up, so I hope y'all are grateful."

Cat-Eyes paused- she seemed to be deliberating something. "One last thing, this arena has a special thing that none of the other arenas have; save perhaps the sixth and final arena where the winner of five rounds gets to face off with me! Ready for it? Traps~"

Jesse's eyes widened.

"Not that I put them in... it's just that the Movie Mode house arena is designed to be as similar to the real Movie Mode house. And since the real Movie Mode house has traps, I just replicated them and put them in! So be careful when poking around this place; or ya might get a non-lethal trap to the face. I'm not mean like that; it'll just hurt a bit or knock you out for a bit, nothing too dangerous. Then you guys would die before we reach the sixth round, and that would be _sooo_ boring..."

"Okay, seriously," Axel whispered to Toni, "I cannot tell if this girl is nice or scary."

Toni regarded Cat-Eyes, who was currently theatrically swooning on the screen. "... you know, neither can I. And I'm not bad at judging people's character, either."

"Alright, but that's enough blather and blabber, let's get this game started, shall we? Two groups on the first Hider team, and two groups on the first Seeker team. Keep in mind that every other round, the number of groups is going to be uneven due to the previous round's elimination, so the odds may be unfair. Okay? Okay. Let's get this started!"

Jesse felt that strange sensation overtake her, making her suck in a breath and hold it automatically as she squeezed her eyes shut. When the sensation finally disappeared, she opened her eyes slowly. When she finally did, the only thing she could do for a minute was just _stare._

They were standing in a living room that was _seriously_ fancy. Red carpet, huge glass pane windows, bookshelves, armchairs, two couches, the works. In fact, the only thing that really marred the landscape was the huge white teleportation plate.

Her bangle was buzzing. Jesse tilted it down to look at it.

 _HIDER - Hide in the ten minute time limit!_

* * *

 **A/N: BA DA BING, BA DA BOOM.**

 **Haha I don't know what I just said xD**

 **Yes, I asked Toni's permission to use the Movie Mode house- when I first planned this fic, actually. So nobody come sue me, please xD**

 **RQTC: Did anyone figure out what PMR ZPTR from the previous chapter meant? (yes, it actually meant something.)**

 **S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: (laughs) Nice job, dude.**

 **RapidSammi: Why thank you, Sammi-kun x3 I'm glad you like it!**

 **ChoyofBonk: (laughs) I know what you mean, neither would I xD**

 **rebekahtpe: It was actually a simple shift code. xD And yeah, same here! And oranges- I just don't eat persimmons all that often xD**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


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